There's Still Beauty

When we bought our house two years ago, the backyard view was something like this:

CC by 2.0 Bob Owen

It was foresty, secluded and private (maybe not with those beautiful rays of sunshine – this is a stock photo - haha). The first time I pulled up to the house, I startled a family of deer who leapt over the backyard fence and disappeared into the forest. It was magical. The backyard overlooking the woods was a pretty big selling point for me. And now our backyard view is this:

I knew there was going to be new construction going up behind us, but I didn’t realize quite how much of our forest it would take. I was heartbroken to see all those glorious trees felled and the raw earth exposed. I wondered where my deer family has gone. This construction was ruining nature, not to mention my view!

But then I lifted my eyes and looked past the ugliness, up and out. And was rewarded with this:

I can see the mountains! I can watch the sunrise! Instead of a wall of trees as my view, I can now see fields and those beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. I could sit and stare at it all day, run from room to room to see different parts of the view.

And of course I saw the symbolism in this experience. Sometimes, what you thought was beautiful and wonderful was only meant to be a part of your life for a season. And it hurts to lose it. All you see is loss and ugliness. All you feel is pain and maybe anger.

But when you look up and out, when you seek God in your pain, He replaces the ugliness with beauty, and not just something comparable to what you had before, but something even more beautiful. You just have to shift your perspective.

Are you going through a hard time? Has something ugly come and ruined your “view”? Maybe a diagnosis, maybe a lost job, maybe life didn’t turn out the way you dreamed it would, or maybe the election has left you disheartened. Don’t despair. God can take all of these things and make something beautiful instead. The pain might still exist - God doesn’t promise life without pain until we get to heaven - but beauty is there, too. If you let it, it can triumph.

I’m not saying it's easy. But your hurts, the scars – they don’t have to define you. Yes, they are a part of you. But they’re not the only part. God will give you beauty in place of each one of those scars. You just have to seek Him – lift your eyes up and out, beyond the pain, to the view of His glorious mountains and sunrises.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

"There is strength within the sorrow/ There is beauty in our tears
And You meet us in our mourning/ With a love that casts out fear
You are working in our waiting/ You're sanctifying us
When beyond our understanding/ You're teaching us to trust
Your plans are still to prosper/ You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood/ You're faithful forever, perfect in love. 
You are sovereign over us." 

(Michael W. Smith, Sovereign Over Us)