Beauty in the broken.......

Yes, today I spent time at my "happy place" - the beach.  This has been an interesting adventure for Ken and I.  We normally go to the beach in Florida!  But this trip we are in Alabama.  I remember saying that I really didn't want to come here since I prefer the Atlantic over the Gulf.  The waves just are not the same.  At least that's what I always said until today!  In checking the stats this morning the wave height here was HIGHER than our favorite Atlantic beach.  So much for no waves.  It was pretty chilly here this morning watching the sunrise (around 50), but that was still 20 degrees warmer than at home!  By the time we went to the beach it was in the low 70's and quite comfortable.  And the waves were really amazing to watch.  Isn't it just like Jesus to bring those winds and therefor, the waves just for me?  I would like to think so!

Backing up a bit, on our drive to the beach yesterday, Ken and I saw something quite amazing - at least to us!  

This picture might be a bit hard to decipher but it is a cotton field!  And the cotton is ripe for the harvest!  We actually came upon this when we made a slight wrong turn and ended up looking for a place to turn around.  Ken actually got out of the car and took his camera over the ditch and into the field to take pictures.  And then he became a real "cotton picker" when he reached down and broke off this....

Now this northern city girl has never seen cotton on the stem!  It is soft and actually looks and feels a lot like the cotton balls you purchase at Walgreens!  But what fun to actually see a whole field (actually we saw a bunch of fields after we stopped) of cotton and then to actually get to touch it.  Very cool.  

And then, this morning on the beach I found these.....

Parts of broken shells.  But aren't they amazing?  I especially love the top shell.  It looks just like an angel wing to me.  As I was watching the waves, feeling the wind on my face, and thinking about these shells, I very clearly heard "there is beauty in the broken".  WOW!  Isn't that true?  That cotton stem is broken off of the plant.....and it is beautiful.  These shells are just broken pieces, pounded in the surf...but they are beautiful.  And Jesus reminded me that even though people are broken....they are beautiful to him.  There are lots of ways that people become broken.   Sickness, circumstances, deaths, accidents, just life can break someones spirit.  The good news is that Jesus doesn't cast aside the broken.  He lovingly holds and heals and puts all of His precious broken children on display for the entire world to see!  That's you and me folks!  All of us are broken in sin.  And when we let him, Jesus transforms us into a thing of beauty.  And then as we walk through this life, and the waves of life and the winds of adversity toss us around, we become broken again.  But just like these shell, Jesus sees us as things of beauty and great worth.

This last year has been very difficult for my family.  Losing a baby - a son, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin... well, it has broken us.  Lucas will always be greatly missed in our family.  Jesus reminded me today that He still sees our family as beautiful and he is gently holding us.  No matter how big or difficult or overwhelming your life might seem, it is not to much for Jesus.  And more than that, after he has dusted us off, and even when we don't feel "healed",  when we see ourselves as jagged and ugly, he cherishes us.  There is nothing better than that!

I needed to find those broken shells today!  And I needed the reminder that Jesus is at work in my family.  Yes, there is beauty in the broken. 

Jesus, thank you for fields of cotton, the beach and the waves!  Sometimes it is the little things that are the most important.  Thank you for your great love and care for us.  Holy Spirit, speak gentle words of calm and peace into all of the broken places in our lives.  Give us hope in all circumstances and remind us that Jesus sees us as beautiful!   Amen

Finding the hidden beauty........

This has been a long and hard winter.  When we had yet another "winter storm warning" this week,  all we could do was sigh.  Most people didn't even pay any attention to it.  It was late on Tuesday afternoon before I noticed that dreaded "red stripe" over the weather forecast. Then when I saw that they were actually saying 4-6", well, you had to take it a little more seriously.  I went to bed thinking that we actually might dodge the bullet.  But, alas, when we awoke on Wednesday morning, we had a good 6" of snow.  Maybe a bit more.  And it was the wet, heavy, icky, sticky stuff.  I was pretty cold and wet by the time I got my car cleared off.  And, thanks to the time change this week (I mean, really, who thought it would be a good idea to change to daylight savings time when we are still in the middle of winter???), it was pitch dark on my way to work.  It was a long, long drive to work.  A trip that took me about 40 minutes and that is a lot for 6 miles.  Yes, 6 miles.  Nothing had been plowed.  There were ruts and ice and it was anybody's guess where the lane markings were.  So I can assure you that I did NOT enjoy the snow that morning.

But then the sun came out.  And it was really the most amazingly beautiful snow that we have had this entire winter.  

 

 

 

Ken actually went out, right after work and got some incredible shots of the snow in the Morton Arboretum.   These are just a couple of my favorites.   Wow! 

 

Sometimes, isn't our life like this?   We are in a really messy, dark, icky, sticky place and then the sun comes out and we can start to see the beauty around us.  Sometimes even the stuff that CAUSED the mess we are in, is part of the very nice picture.  The thing is, on this morning when I was stuck in that traffic and slipping around on the roads, I didn't notice how the snow was sticking to the trees.  I missed that there were ice crystals around some of the branches and it almost looked like crystals hanging on the trees.  It wasn't until the sun came out that you could see and appreciate the wonder of this snow.   We need THE SON - Jesus to come into all of the junk in our daily life for us to find the hidden things.  When we begin to look at our problems and our troubles through the SON, we can see the amazing picture that is being painted.  It is a picture of the true plan and destiny for us.  All of the troubles and the problems and difficulties become something very different, when the truth of Jesus and the light of the Holy Spirit shines on them.  Those troubles don't go away, the problems and difficulties are still there.  But our eyes can be opened to see through the muck and find the beauty that is there.  We still had 6 lousy inches of snow......again....... on top of the piles of snow that have NOT melted yet.  There was still ice on the roads and ruts and slush.  But with my eyes looking UP, it was beautiful!

 

Jesus, thank you for the beauty that you have planned in your creation.   Holy Spirit, thank you for your reminder to look up and see the picture you painted with snow.  What an amazing wonder with the sun shining on it.  Thank you for Ken and his ability to capture these images to help us all to remember to see the hidden beauty.  Amen