I woke this morning to another spectacular day in our beautiful valley. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the irises Ana planted along our fence lines are in full bloom. Their brilliant colors and varied hues brighten the landscape, making me marvel at the beauty of God’s creation.
I love this time of year. “The winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.” Song of Solomon 2:12. It’s a great time to be alive!
Yet the beauty I see all around me pales into insignificance compared to the wonders just over the horizon. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, ““No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” Heaven is a place of spectacular beauty, joy, and love, a place beyond our wildest imaginings.
Our world is beautiful in so many ways, but that beauty is marred by the effects of sin. The irises I took pictures of yesterday are spectacular, but if you look closely you can see where the bugs have eaten them, fraying their edges, and hurrying their demise. Their beauty lasts for just a few days, then they wither and die.
So it is with our own lives. We start life with great plans, lofty hopes, and expansive dreams, but then reality hits. Plans go awry, hopes fade, and dreams turn into nightmares. Before we know it the days before us are far less than the days which are gone. “We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.” (Job 14:2)
Yet, in spite of this, a spark of hope still glimmers in our souls and when we gaze upon the beauty of a flower or the magnificence of a sunset, it fans for a moment into life. In spite of the detours thrown in our path, we know God has a plan, that the same Jesus who created such beauty on this earth, who gave His life that we might live, has gone to prepare a place for us, that where He is, there we may be also. (John 14:2).
That is what we must focus on. In this life we will have hardship and disappointment, but we will also have joy and laughter and days like today, filled with beauty and hope. It is these things we must cling to. Jesus told us to “Consider how the flowers grow.” (Luke 12:27 GW). In the beauty of the flower we catch a glimpse of the beauty which awaits us and we find hope to face another day, secure in the knowledge the best is yet to come.
This Sabbath morning Jesus invites you to “Come aside…and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:32). Open your eyes today to the beauty around you. Consider the flowers and for just a little while, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2). And may “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding…guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7).