Reality

  

Do you like that pretty flower? I did when I took that picture. There were many of them and they looked so lovely in bright sunshine. They were such a contrast to the empty lot at the edge of a small town on an Interstate where they grew, and I'm certain they were considered weeds, along with other wildflowers growing there. It did remind me that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, but surroundings often detracted from the beauty.

I've taken such photographs for years. Once my Mom sent me a picture of a beautiful yellow flower. She had seen it as they approached - it stood out because it was a bright color along a desert road that lacked greenry. She wrote that she knew I would take such a photo and she wanted me to see the same beauty she did.

Both incidents helped me understand how God can see beauty in all of His creation, in each of His children. David was inspired to write of God's care for our life:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalms 139:16-17 KJV)

That love of God isn't confined to kings. Those who love the Lord see His work in their lives:

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. (Luke 2:25-26 KJV)

Do the next verses amaze you? They did me:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. (Luke 2:30-32 KJV)

Simeon was a good man - just in his dealings, and devout toward God. He desired to see the Messiah - and the timing was right for him to see Jesus brought to the Temple to be presented as an every day event, for every Jewish child in Jerusalem. But the Holy Spirit opened Simeon's eyes to this one special child. For certain, God had precious thoughts about Simeon, didn't He?

Yet, Simeon had more to say:

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Luke 2:34 KJV)

How many people have you heard speak against Jesus, against the sign of the cross that symbolizes the death He suffered for the cleansing of our sinfulness - mine, yours, and every person that born before and after that event. The mind cannot encompass the number who acceepted God's gift. Nor can we accept the number that reject Jesus, His message, His reason for being born, His death, and most certainly His resurrection.

We know few are chosen for historical remembrance as those mentioned as witnesses in Hebrews 11, but we all do have the same opportunities to seek God, as those in Jeremiah:

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13 KJV)

Even in a field of weeds and wildflowers, bloom beautifully by calling upon God, pray unto Him, seek Him, and find Him when searching with all your heart.