Beautiful

     He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

 

As I fussed over another passage that I’ve probably written about too often, the song based on this passage came up in my playlist. Today is the one day this week that I can get things done. Every other day, I either have to fit things in around and between, or it’s supposed to be a day of rest. The plan to mow both lawns, weed and prep garden beds has gone awry, thanks to misty, damp, and chilly weather. In other words, it’s just another in the many days since April 1 when I look outside and say, “Hurry up! Not yet!”

And like most people, I go through times, like now, when I look at myself in the mirror – whether the mirror in my bathroom or the mirror of Scripture and think, “Ugly!” And while some folks will say, “You shouldn’t say such things about yourself, they aren’t true” sometimes they are wrong, and sometimes they’re lying.

Instinctively, we know there’s something wrong with being ugly, and I think we instinctively know that the ugly that is skin deep is the smaller sort of ugliness. We long for the eternal, the majestic, the beautiful, but it’s just not what looks back at us. What this Battle Bible verse tells us is that there is hope. Admittedly, we’re ugly ducklings at the moment. We’re worms that do nothing but devour plants. But God knows that the ugly duckling is a swan, and the worm will one day be a butterfly.

Until then, we must remember that this is His promise, that in His time, He will make all things – which by definition includes us – beautiful.