Beauty

There is beauty even when some would say the beauty has faded!

As I spend more time in my gardens, I see more and more beauty.  The varied shades of color.  The varied shapes.  The varied sizes.  The varied ways they sway in the breeze.  The varied way they speak to the bees & butterflies.  The varied smells that penetrate the air. The varied ways they penetrate my soul.  I find peace the the varied ways different makes me feel.  But one other thing that I’m starting to see, the more I pay attention, is that “there is beauty even when some would say the beauty has faded”.

The picture is of my Allium after they have finished showing themselves this spring.  In the prime of their season they were a beauty purple ball on a long slender green stem.  They are very interesting and very beautiful.   As their color started fading and I left them standing in my garden I found them still very interesting but it wasn’t until I started to pull them up and toss them in the compost pile that I found another form of beauty.   That is when my mind went to myself and if everyone were honest, we would all say that we have felt that time when our beauty seemed to be fading.  Probably the 1st time I felt that was in 1991 when I was forced to file for divorce.   Who I was and who I represented felt as if it had been stripped away and my beauty had faded over night. But what I’ve learned through many other situations, that brought the same feeling,  is that my beauty is not of man but of God.

1 Peter 3:3-4 

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

In all of my varied seasons of life, my beauty is that of my inner self.  The inner self that I have allowed God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to indwell.   I have not always lived with a vibrant color, glowing with His Spirit and gentle nature but He still formed me and was patient with me.    This has taught me much.  This has given me comfort in the ugly times. Knowing that I again would emerge with much beauty.   This has also shown me the beauty in others.  Not to discount them and not to simply toss them in the compost pile because I believed they had out lived their beauty.

So I encourage you to look for that varied beauty in others.  Cherish it because He is the One who dwells within.

Lord, You are everlasting, ever patient, ever forming, and ever loving.  Amen!