Appearances

Low tide in the marsh during winter is not all that glamorous. The prettiest thing about it is the blue sky reflected in the water!

Come summertime, though, it will be full of swaying green marsh grass and red-winged blackbirds singing their songs among the reeds.

If you discovered this area today and didn’t take the time to get to know it, you’d miss out on the beauty it has to offer.

This winter marsh reminds me of a verse we find in Ecclesiastes:

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

We can’t necessarily judge the future based on the present. We may think we know, but do we really? We look at this muddy mess, and are positively certain that it will always be so.

We find comfort in closure. Our minds simply want to know so we can move on, even if that knowing is faulty. And in moving on, we miss the beauty that God had in store all along.

Could it be that we have trained ourselves to look more for imperfections than for potential in the people around us?

Perhaps today we can begin to change our outlook and choose to be brave in the unknowing.

If you have someone in your life that you’ve given up on, why is that? Ask God to show you the beauty and potential He has placed in them.

Today might not be the day you see that beauty, but God sees it. Ask him for his heart toward that person. You may be surprised at how your perceptions change!

Finally, remember: it’s all in God’s time. He “has made everything beautiful for its own time.” When that time comes, be prepared to be amazed — watching the process of beauty being revealed is breathtaking!

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:8 NLT

May we be imitators of our Heavenly Father, sharing the grace and mercy we received in spite of what we once were!