The View from Here

I took a walk this morning, camera in hand.  Here are a few of the beautiful things I found just outside my door today:

Mexican Hat wildflowers blooming in the fields

 Thistle, one of my favorite wild blossoms

 Bright Lights chard

Sycamore leaf

raindrops on roses

What beauty can you find outside your door today?

Simple Beauty

 Seeking beauty in simple things today ...

such as this clearance sale cyclamen.

Vivid, scarlet beauty blooming on the windowsill, brightening winter days, all this for a mere 25 cents.

More simple beauty from my world today:

birds at the feeder
grape hyacinths in the grass
seeds sprouting in containers on the porch 


Where are you finding simple beauty today?
 

Seeking and Seeing

What do we do on a scorching hot end-of-summer day, when tempers are reflecting temperature? 
A 2-month string of days with 100+ on the thermometer gets to us all eventually. 
When it's too hot to garden, or play outside, or hike, or well, most any of the things we normally do when we are tired of being inside-  we head to one of our favorite places to see what beauty we can discover.


A space with fans blowing cool, moist air, lots of green ...



fountains! 



trays and trays of crazy beauty- some lovely, some beautiful by virtue of downright weirdness!



And what do my beautiful beauty-seekers choose from the myriad of offerings (for you know we must bring home a plant or two)? 



Living Stones (lithops)

Of all the plants, not only in the greenhouse but outside, my children choose these because they look like stones (another of their favorite collectible items). 

Amazing, this God of ours.
We go hunting for relief from the heat, a change of scenery, some new living thing for the home; and in our searching we find what we really need, the one thing that will bring the refreshment we are seeking, true beauty-  Him.

For there He is- right there in that tiny plant, just waiting for us to see Him:

⁴As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it stands in Scripture:

"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
1 Peter 2:4-6 (ESV)

He is there, wherever you may be today. 
Take a moment to really look ... seek and ye shall find. 


Another of our favorite places we visited yesterday- oh the loveliness of all that yarn ... so many ideas (but that's another post)!