No matter what's leaking or jammed up in my head or my heart, I'm almost always comforted by the beauty God has given us. It's in the everydayness of our surroundings and is a gift for the taking if we'll see ... when we look.
We all appear to be taking it in when our eyes are open... but seeing, that's really entirely different. Looking without seeing is when you glance at your wrist watch and have to look AGAIN when someone asks for the time (!) or when you arrive by car at your destination and wonder how you got there. Isn't THAT freaky? Sometimes it's merely annoying (not seeing that what you looked for the first time actually IS in that drawer), or it can be vital (knowing when to send specific prayers up for a friend's son who is flying solo for the first time ~ for example...) but it can be dangerous, too. How did I race down the interstate going 70 mph and not remember what I saw along the way?! Always there's been something missed. Always.
When I'm seeing what God has put out there for me, I don't miss the yellow and black butterfly with the blue spot on the back of its wings or the red dragonfly that blends in with the Cannis. The orange and yellow Lantana that just popped up sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the pink blooms and is immediately obvious, and I actually see the red tail feathers of the Red Tailed Hawks that soar over my backyard.
Even man-made beauty is refreshing when we're open to the blessing. At an art gallery opening last night a two year old ran around in a new Tinker Bell outfit, bought for Halloween but too tempting not to wear NOW. Its bodice, the wings and this little girl's hair all sparkled in the sunshine. From the weaver's loom inside, there was an exquisitely made, airy, silk scarf that was so light it almost floated off the shelf. Incredible shapes appeared from pieces of carefully cut wood; God's trees. Beautiful images caught at just the right moment hung on the walls. Stitches marched behind one another in seemingly never ending quilt patterns.
No joke: have you ever noticed the starlings (lowly black birds on the ornithological totem pole) when they're bathing in a puddle early in the morning? Their feathers become a deep blue and the water they splash around looks like glass marbles bouncing in the light. Or have you seen them string along the telephone wires, huddled so closely together they look like an onyx necklace? Maybe it's the way an elderly loved one's face crinkles when he/she laughs that blesses you.
Maybe it's none of these things, but ... you won't know how often our It's-in-the-Details Father wants to wow you unless you actually look around ... and SEE!
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