Closeness...

"Mama, Mama, you have to come see this butterfly we caught!  We're about to let it go."  

"Oh, that's OK, you can let it go without me," I said unthinkingly.  I was tired...we've caught literally hundreds of butterflies over the course of the summer...I was sitting on the couch with a sleeping baby on my shoulder.  This one could return to the wild without me.  But no...

"Mama, you really have to see this one.  It's so pretty.  We've never caught one like this before.  PLEASE?"

"OK, OK, I'm coming."  Begrudgingly I lift myself carefully off the couch so as not to wake the baby, exit my comfortable air-conditioned living room to walk out into the sweltering heat and humidity of the afternoon.  There in their little butterfly cage is a single black butterfly.  I try to discern what is so special about this specimen, why they had to drag me outside to see it...but then I catch a flash of blue on the wings.  

"Do you see how the wings are bright blue when the sun hits them?" As the sunlight reaches the dull black wings on this butterfly, my eyes are met with iridescent flashes of blue coloration.  It is truly spectacular.  How can it be that something so ordinary and so similar to other black swallowtail butterflies, can suddenly become so extraordinary?

As I sat in the baby's room in the early morning hours today, thinking back on this episode from yesterday afternoon, a thought struck me....this butterfly is the perfect picture of our lives when we live in close proximity to Christ.  Without Him, we are just like everyone else...but when we draw near to him, when we bask in the Light of the Son, we reflect Him to a dying world around us.  We have no power to do this on our own.  Only when we are living in obedience to Him, allowing Him to dwell in us and submitting our hearts to His will, we reflect His attributes...His love, His goodness, His awesome power, His forgiveness, His grace and mercy...out for all to see. And Oh! what a marvelous sight it is to behold. 

At a time when everything is socially distanced, we crave closeness more than ever before.  We yearn to be near to others, for the normalcy of the life we once knew, just a matter of months ago.  I would challenge and implore you to consider that God is never far away, and we never need distance ourselves from Him.  Draw near to Him, invite Him to be a part of your life this very day.  Step into the beautiful light of the Son, and see how He will transform your life in a way you never thought possible.

John 15:5 (AMPC)  I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

Beauty...

I haven't been able to blog much lately...I can't believe it's been two months since my last post.  So much has changed around here in those two months too!  Tessa Grace was born on July 6th and has been a wonderful new addition to our family.  The days have been long and exhausting to be sure!

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a program about Creation with the kids. The premise of the episode we were watching was that the world we live in can be attributed to an intelligent designer, a Creator, because we can see a purpose in it, namely, it is beautiful.  How could a world formed by chance have such form and structure and perfection and delicate beauty as we see all around us?  As I walk around the yard every day, this statement keeps echoing in my mind.  Look around you, look at all the beauty....how could it be that this is just chance?  Does it not SHOUT to you, day in and day out of a loving, inspired, creative designer?  Why did He put so much care into even the most minute details around us? 

 Just tonight I was walking around the yard again watering and I snapped a few photos of the flowers I'm growing.  I think of the words of Luke 12:28 which say,

"If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!"

So many are quick to deny God's existence, and perhaps others will consent to agree that there might be a God, but they want nothing to do with Him.  Just looking at a few flowers, butterflies and bugs brings me to a place of awe.  And this is only scratching the surface of this magnificent world that surrounds us.

What do you do with BEAUTY?  How do you explain it and what purpose does it serve?    I believe beauty is a window into the heart of God...because He didn't just make a world for us to exist in, but He made a world that would inspire awe, that would proclaim His love for us everywhere we looked.  Beauty gives us joy in our hearts because it points us back to a God who loves us.

Another favorite verse of mine is Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Creation declares God's glory....I think of this as I watch the tiny bees collecting pollen from our giant sunflowers.  The work of His hands is evident everywhere I look.  I look closer at another sunflower that has already died, and even in this dead flower I'm amazed when I examine the perfect spiral pattern of the seeds which will soon be a meal for hungry goldfinches in the yard.

Night after night, I've sat awake with my new baby in the wee hours of the morning, and just gazed down at her sweet face.  This tiny baby, the most miraculous of miracles, a perfect example yet again of God's goodness, His design, His care for me.  

I am literally surrounded by beauty.  I hope that this thought will inspire you also as so many right now are struggling with all the anxiety and fear and hatred rippling through our country and world.  Beauty reminds me of something much deeper, much greater than the struggles we have gone through so far in 2020.  Beauty points me back to God and reminds me that He should be my focus, my desire, the source of my happiness and peace.  Beauty gives me great hope...a hope that others will stop chasing after the empty things of this world and instead turn and run toward the God that loves them unconditionally.

 

Thank you God for the beauty you have made all around me.  Thank you for the daily reminders of Your love and care for me that is proclaimed in Your creation.  Help me not take for granted, all that You have done for me.  Help me to chase after you with my whole heart, and abandon the things of this world that are constantly clamoring for my attention.