Beauty All Around!

Each day is filled with beauty of God's creation. Whether mountains, rivers, sky, clouds, oceans, flowers, animals, or even people, there is beauty to behold.


While stateside I was standing in a friend's backyard attempting to take pictures of individual flowers. I find that there is great beauty in a single flower. Yes, arrangements are beautiful. As I studied and took classes to learn the Ikebana (Japanese) flower arranging many years ago, each individual flower held its own beauty and place in the arrangement.


While I traveled the past four decades in various countries and states, I've learned to see the special beauty in individuals. He or she may look terrible, but God does not focus on what I see. He looks on their heart, which is sometimes very soft and tender, while they are being the meanest person on the outside. Their cover up is to protect themselves because they have only lived lives full of pain and hurt.


What does God see when He looks at you? How do you see yourself? Where is the real beauty in you? Do you know? Can you see it or do you have it completely buried and covered up?