This gorgeous, green, immaculate leaf fell right in front of my face today as I was making the short walk between car and workplace. A part of it brushed against my nose, capturing my attention, and it continued to whirl its way down to the sidewalk. I turned around to look at it and, upon seeing such beauty, didn’t care if anyone saw me looking totally cliché on the first day of autumn by crouching down to take a photo of it lying there. All beautiful and fallen and absolutely perfect in my eyes.
I wonder if that is how God sees us. It does not escape His attention that we have fallen. We are all fallen. But He sees past that reality, and past the reality that we will inevitably wither and fade and be no more on this earth. He looks down and instead sees the beauty we each contain. The beauty in even the simplest parts of our beings, the parts that make us so absolutely irresistible to Him. So absolutely and endlessly loved. Perfectly spotless because of His Son. No filters are needed because no filter could affect the way God sees us, truly and right to our depths. To the way He made us. To not only who we are, but to who we can be.
We are fallen, but God sees past that. He sees our beauty, our potential, and He calls us His own. He loves and protects us in incredible ways. As I see the leaves dance and descend this autumn, I am going to remind myself that, although they are beautiful, God has made us even more so. His crowning, culminating creation is us. All the beauty we see around us is nothing compared to all the beauty He has planted in us.
I think He knew I needed that reminder today. Lord, your provision and care is like no other.
Ephesians 2:10, HLC
sacred strokes 