Heart

In the midst of global chaos, I have seen our humanity shine. I have seen consideration for the less fortunate. I have seen food banks open in light of school closures. I have seen attention given to the elderly. I’ve seen courage in the face of despair. I’ve seen our heart. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would. We still have hope. We still have joy. We still have fight. We still believe. We still have love. It is a heart filled with love that cares for the needy, and feeds the homeless, and nurtures the sick.

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart. – Helen Keller

Garden

“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get”.- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Despite my allergies, I loved helping my grandfather in his garden. He had such patience to dig, plant, and water. I wanted to see the results of our efforts- immediately, but that’s not how his garden worked. I wanted to eat the fruits of our labor, and I did- just not at that moment. Patience. I enjoyed all the fresh vegetables he planted each season. It took time. I loved watching them grow. I’m sure that’s how God looks at us. He watches us grow. He waters us. He prunes us and picks us. He cultivates our talents and gifts as we grow. We bloom in our own time. We are all a part of God’s garden.

Beautiful

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Most of us have been conditioned to accept certain standards of beauty. If God sees beauty in our brokenness, then what do we see beauty in? Do we see beauty in creation? Do we see beauty in destruction? Do we see beauty in our pain? Do we see beauty in sickness and death? What if our life story was weaved with a colorful collection of our successes and failures sown together with our joy and pain? What if our weakness makes us beautiful? Our need for a savior and our inability to save ourselves made us God’s most beautiful creation. We are beautiful because we are flawed. We are beautiful because of our imperfections.

Vulnerable

Self-preservation is a natural instinct. It keeps us out of harm's way. It is our own internal "spidey sense." If you've ever had your heart broken, love can make you a little gun shy. You become protective of your emotions. You don't want to fall in love too quick or too fast. You want to take things slow. Falling in love can be terrifying. Vulnerability is seen as weakness. You isolate yourself and your heart from the very thing you say you want. You find fault in everything and everyone. Being vulnerable is the only way to get what you truly desire. 

"What makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful." - Dr. Brené Brown

Glory

“A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he find her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough."- John Eldredge
 

You are enough. I don't know when we stop believing those words. I don't know if somehow we forgot that we were fearfully and wonderfully made. Maybe we got lost in the weight we gained. Maybe we got lost in the dreams we forgot. Maybe we got lost in all the titles. Maybe we got lost when we changed our name. Maybe we got lost when the plans changed. We are enough. We are beautiful just the way we are. We are worthy. We are glorious. We are his creation. We are his glory.

Emerge

Caterpillars in New Orleans sting. I remember oak trees lined with foil. It was thought that caterpillars originate from the ground and crawl up into the trees. The foil was meant to stop infestation of the trees. Not true, actually. My favorite part of Spring is metamorphosis. Dead trees spring back to life. Flowers bloom and butterflies emerge. I've always admired the beauty of butterflies. They are able to completely transform themselves from caterpillars to butterflies. Many of us have that same transformative power. We have the ability to emerge from chrysalis' of doubt and insecurity. We have the ability to emerge from failure and heartache. We have the ability to emerge into the beautiful beings we were meant to be. Emerge and Fly, Butterfly!