When you’re longing to see beauty in the daily grind, how can your soul get filled?

There’s a dingy white planter sitting out in front of the house.

It’s been sitting there on the same patch of grass next to the driveway.
For years.

I’ve been meaning to plant something.  I thought it’d be nice to add some color to welcome guests as they walked up — flowers to greet cars as they drove past our home.

Problem is I don’t know a thing about planting flowers.

What kind would last in the pot… and how long?

When should I water them… and how much?

One time I went to Home Depot and I asked the clerk for some help.  He didn’t seem to know either, waving big arm motions over the gardening section.

I decided it was time to count my losses and find the planter a happy home.  It got tagged for a Goodwill run.

Oh well.  Some day. When the kids are older.

Later that weekend, I shuffled my flip flops over to lug the planter into my car trunk.

Wait a minute…

I leaned in to take a closer look.

Who put these here?

There — in dirt often mixed with wayward leaves that tumble in from branch to breeze — stood stems yellow, red, lavender and white.

Someone planted flowers.

And it wasn’t me.

The Winds Of Everyday Life

Sometimes, the daily grind makes seeing beauty hard.

It’s not that we don’t want to.  It’s not that we haven’t tried.

The winds of everyday life can bring unexpected changes to the best of our intentions.

We can get discouraged.

It’s part of life here on this side of heaven.

This is when

our soul softens, longing for beauty,

God’s voice speaks the most tender,

and His faithfulness becomes the hope we fall asleep to.

Empty Places

If you’re in a place where you’re longing for beauty, God whispers this —

“See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
~ Isaiah 43:19

God is making a way for you and me.

Not just as a way of escape.

God is creating a reservoir of soul food to nourish us from within.

While we aren’t looking, God is reviving a growing hunger for joy and newness.

We may not see it from outward appearances, but God is faithful to fulfill those empty places.

Not just because He can do it.

But because He loves creating beauty.

You can bet God sees one thing when He looks in your heart.

Beauty.

“to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes…
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.”
~ Isaiah 61:3

Weeks after the flowers mysteriously appeared, I bumped into a neighbor I seldom see.  It turns out she was replanting flowers in her backyard, when she thought of the empty planter by the driveway.

She has continued to replant new blossoms.  So, next time you come by and visit, you’ll know they were placed there, as gifts to me.
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How has God prepared beauty for your soul while you weren’t looking?

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Photo credit:  heatherjenestatic via Photobucket.