Skip to main content

Beauty in the Grey.

Today the sky was born grey.

Since the moment the grey lightened, the sky has dripped or drizzled or dumped an innumerable number of drops.
Grey is kind of depressing, really – almost a heavy color.

But today – today it brought out all of the beautiful.

I’ve been relating to grey frequently of late. The feeling of waking up “heavy” is a common one. But the grey of circumstance is exposing and developing a whole lot of beautiful in the meantime.

What has God, through the grey, birthed in my life?

~ A deep craving/desire/need to be in the Word.
~ A richer marriage.
~ A growing appreciation of rest.
~ A new beauty in the strength of friendship.
~ A developing ability to recognize true joy when it manifests.

These “growths” lead me to Ecclesiastes:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

The next verses go on to list the things that there are times and seasons for, but I love coming back in on verse eleven – the point of it all:  

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it so that people fear before him.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11-14  
 
God has put eternity into our hearts. He has made EVERYTHING beautiful in its time. Everything that God does endures forever!!

What better can we do that to be joyful, do good and take pleasure in the toil – the day to day grey!?

With that in mind, I grabbed my camera and plaid umbrella and went out to see what the grey had done. The results were delicious.


Tomorrow, friend, if your day is born grey, try with me to look for the beauty that God grows in the grey. It’s there! I’ve seen it. 









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's not all about me.

Have you ever had an idea - a brilliant, creative or thoughtful idea that seemed both perfect and timely? Have you ever told that idea to one other person before you had the chance to act on it and the next thing you know it's in motion, but not in your name? There you stand on the sidelines, watching as everyone celebrates your idea and as that one person you shared it with seems to have forgotten where it originated from. It's pretty miserable. I know. It happens to me often! Have you ever rolled out of bed in the morning with no desire to get your kids up, dressed and fed? Is the last thing that you want to do to wash another sink full of dishes that you didn't dirty or to drop everything to take your son to the toilet for the thirteenth time or to spend hours on another supper that will be gobbled up in minutes or to wrangle (what feels like) a million kids down the aisles of the grocery store? Do you have someone in your life who rubs you the wrong way? Maybe the...
2 comments
Read more

The Unexpected.

  Have you experienced the shock of the unexpected? I have. In a second, in a phone call, and in the short words of a text, my stomach has been a stone within me. That moment when I’ve not known where my toddler is; those shaky words spoken over the miles, “It’s cancer”; that angry red discovered weeks into a pregnancy; that splash in the pool – each one has delivered the sickening feeling of shock. This past weekend we experienced one of these unexpected events which has proven to rattle me more than I would have anticipated. Here I’ve been, skipping along through spring, feeling the weight of fog lifted a little and WHAM! There it is. Right out of nowhere - the unexpected. First came the anger. Like David I find myself pleading, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”. (Psalm 13) When is enough enough? Have I done something wrong? Have I not been obedient or trusting enough? How much adversity can we bear up under? But God is so good. He’s so kind to me. When I,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Undivided hearts

Yesterday, our pastor preached an excellent sermon on 2 Chronicles 14-16. It was about having an undivided heart and finishing as well as you start out. One verse in particular has been running through my mind ever since - 2 Chronicles 16:9: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Pastor Kim asked, “What is dividing your heart? Your attention?” Wow! About a million things. But seriously, there truly are a myriad of things running through my mind at any given moment. Even as he preached I had to use a great amount of self-control not to dwell on how smoothly the song service had gone, the fact that Aiden was likely driving his teacher crazy somewhere in the church, the possibility of Josh shooting another deer while I was sitting here, the events that I had planned for the week and how great so-and-so’s scarf was. Sad, right? And that’s just the little stuff. How many hours do I spend worrying? How o...
2 comments
Read more