Evelyn Underhill, "Abba" p.2
Underhill in her book "Abba", starts with the address to the Father and she talks about the first two movements of prayer. The first movement is adoration as of a child toward a Father. I'm sure that in a society where we have distorted pictures of fathers, it is difficult to apply beauty toward this image, but there is something about the inheritance that one receives from our God that brings beauty to those of us that hope for something more than what we know here on earth.
The phrase "Our Father who Art in Heaven", finds its first movement in being fully concerned with His glory, His presence and His plans. As I look into the philosophical idea of beauty, I find that beauty isn't as subjective as some make it out to be. There is something to the pleasure that some things bring us, but the greater characteristic of beauty is the excellence within the object itself.
And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will,
but what You will.” Mark 14:36
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,
“Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15
The distinction of our heavenly Father is that He loves, disciplines, He is transcendent, is perfect and as Jesus would put it "all things are possible" for Him. These are excellent qualities and characteristics that we don't find perfectly demonstrated in humanity. All of us have high ideals to love, but we fail at times to love others perfectly. The Glory of God is worthy of a beautiful distinction, simply because the Father who is the object of perfection is everything that humanity desires as a pattern of life. This brings us toward the second movement of prayer and that is mans need.
"But the theme of the second movement, with its humble petition for the support of the Unchanging Spirit in our ever-
changing life, is weak and limited man, as he is now; his needs, his errors, his fears." p.3
What a beautiful mess the inheritors of heaven find themselves. "Our Father" is able to look at our struggles and become our source of hope, our forgiver and our deliverer. The distinction or excellence of the Father in heaven is that His children in need can appeal to Him who is greater than any earthly father. Our heavenly Father can satisfy and in fact is the only one who can satisfy our needs...
"It is a statement of fact, which takes us clean aways from the world of religious problems and consolations, the world
of self-interested worries and strivings, and discloses the infinite span and unfathomable depth of that supernatural
world in which we really live. From our distorted life "unquieted with dreads, bounden with cares, busied with vanities,
vexed with temptations" the soul in its prayer reaches out to center its trust on the Eternal, the existent." p.3-4
That is Eternal Beauty!