Beauty - Hidden Treasures (Previously: Beauty)

There are just some times, when life seems so same-old, same-old… as if I’m in such a rut or routine, that each day rolls by without anything seemingly significant happening. “What’s the use?” “Why bother?” I wonder. “What’s the meaning or purpose of life, anyway?!”

Then, I realize that other parts of life can seem so insignificant or homely, even ugly and non-descript… but that something… just something… even special… even what one might call, “Beautiful,” is hidden beyond the surface.

I think of cocoons and caterpillars hidden away from sight, in what might seem like an ugly or unimpressive home… only to become the home or birthplace… as if from a womb, ready to bear something quite remarkable and impressive… of a beautiful, colorful, lace-like design of a butterfly… something miraculously different than a caterpillar that can only crawl on the ground… and yet, it too, has a beauty in and of itself with colorful markings and hair and a furry body.

So also, a seed… a rather bland object… usually with a hard surface and no “picture book design” on the outside to tell you what it is or what it can grow into… and yet, unbelievably, when planted and hidden away, for a period of time, unique to each seed, it grows into something beautiful and totally different from the casing in which it was entombed.

Sometimes, I wonder, how and in what ways, we people, who may feel imprisoned in our thoughts or ways or pasts or busy lives… will experience a release from what we know and experience now… to become the beautifully transformed person that God has envisioned and designed for us… once we move from something dead-like, as a seed… to something fully alive in His Spirit! Who knows? Maybe before I physically die, I, too, will see the beauty of His love radiating out in multiple colors and ways, from myself and the people who walk in His power and light and love.

I look forward to seeing, more and more, the beauty God has envisioned for me and others and for all of His creation.

Precious Linda, c. 2012

The Bonsai Tree - A Living Creation (Previously: The Bonsai Tree)

How can it be… a little tree… the bonsai tree?

How can it grow so small and beautiful and delicate?

I wonder how people can possibly decide which branch to snip and which one to tie up or support with wire. There must be a plan and some artistic choices that emanate from the one who beholds it, and sees the beauty that is yet to come.

Perhaps it’s like life and we are like a tree planted. We’re to grow and bloom wherever we are planted, but how does that happen?

Are we pruned? I don’t want to be cut or feel the pain of losing a part of me! I’d rather just grow and grow… I guess I’d grow into a gnarly mess. I don’t really want that. I’d rather look like a beautiful 100-or-more-year-old bonsai tree… loved and cared for and respected… something precious.

I guess I need to trust that the Creator planted me where I am… as a bonsai tree and gave me the ability to grow and sprout limbs and leaves. The Creator provides water and sunshine and even opportunities for pruning. Sometimes, the pruning hurts… man, does it ever hurt! I watch that beautiful limb fall away. Sometimes, though, the Creator lets me decide where to prune or where to place some wire support.

Somehow or other, my Creator and I, together, are watching over this little bonsai tree… of me.

I wonder what we are creating. In time, we’ll see!

Precious Linda, c. 2012