a wild burst of color

The wildflowers above are just a little sampling of some of the wild burst of color that I see on my morning walk/run.

Depending on the time of year, I can see a lot of them along the way and can, in fact, begin to walk right by without even really noticing them.

Until…

The other day I was on my normal route when something caught my eye.  Out of the corner of my right eye I saw a vibrant yellow.  It was down in the middle of an ugly drainage ditch.  All by itself.  And yet it was standing up tall and proud, its beautiful hue in vivid contrast to the mud and muck it was growing in.

There were many other flowers like it along the way that I had missed.  Not because they were less beautiful, but because their beauty blended in more easily with their surroundings.  But this one.  This one captured my attention because it was loveliness in the middle of ugliness.  Unlikely and intriguing.  Something had blossomed in less than perfect conditions.

But then again, maybe it was just the right conditions.  Though the mud and muck weren’t pretty, they did provide moisture and nutrients that allowed the wildflower to grow.  In that low, gully place, that flower was protected from the wind.  And to any passerby, it’s obvious thriving loveliness would be hard to miss.

I couldn’t help but see that wild burst of color as an analogy.  There are times when our hearts and souls are in that drainage ditch.  Down and burdened.  The pain and struggles in this world can make the background of our lives feel like a deep gully.  Everything would point to that being a place of brokenness of spirit and the death of hopes and dreams.  But there are things that can happen in that dark and lonely place.  Because our great Gardener is right there with us.  And He gives us what we need in that place to live and grow and eventually thrive.  The character that is developed in that time and place is like the stark beauty of that flower in the drainage ditch.  A contrast to its surroundings.  A beauty that is more vivid and deep because it has not let where it’s at define what it is.

Jesus, may everything that I face in this day, in every day, remind me that I am a work in progress.  A blooming wildflower – sometimes along the sweet path and sometimes in the ugly ditch – that you are creating and growing to be a thing of beauty. May I never forget the ground my roots are in that will give me the nourishment, hydration and protection that I need, regardless of my surroundings.  Help the colors of my heart to be signs of sweet life, often grown best in the deep dirt of gullies.  And may every petal of my life point straight to you…

James 1:2-4 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

John 12:24 – I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.