Tulips are colorful messengers of spring. Beauty lifts our spirits during these days of isolation and reports of COVID-19 cases. Have you gotten outside lately to take a walk in the sunshine?
In the midst of the pandemic, in a time of fear over falling ill, job loss, uncertain school plans, and separation from loved ones, it is helpful to refresh our spirits. Many problems are beyond our ability to fix instantly or control ultimately. Jesus was a realist; he told us life is difficult. We are living that hard reality now. So we hand off our weighty problems in prayer. And we remember to put beauty in the unfolding day.
Let's reorient. Forget about focusing on the problems. Turn instead to the God of all comfort, grace, goodness. Toss your cares to Him. Be real when you pray; give Him the unedited version of what you are experiencing. Know that God is for you and always has been.
"Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all." Proverbs 3:5-7
Coffee breaks are nice. Beauty breaks are better. Gaze on God's beauty today. It's more glorious than the Grand Canyon. Worship changes us. It rights our tipping perspective. Our fears begin to fade. Each dawn holds hope of better things to come.
Life is short. That poetic reminder is posted in our outhouse in Maine. Whenever the end comes, as it surely will for us all, I look forward to spending eternity with God. He is beauty personified. He is our peace. I want my dad who is 98 and living 1,000 miles away to live with that assurance and certain hope.
"One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple." Psalm 27:4
Matt Redman. "10,000 Reasons." Nov. 25, 2011.
