As I walked through my back yard this morning, meditating, and enjoying the lovely Springtime blooms, I came across the tree bearing this colorful flower. I stopped a moment to take in its unique and sort of wild beauty. While studying it, I couldn’t help draw a parallel of this flower’s half bloomed, unique beauty, to the partially bloomed beauty of our lives.

This last month I’ve been doing a group study about letting go of worldly definitions of beauty and feeling free to be the beautiful, wonderfully made individuals God intended us to be. Looking at this beautiful, sort of exotic looking flower this morning, I thought, “this flower represents every one of us – such unique, vibrant qualities, and still in the process of blooming!” But oh my, how beautiful are the budding characteristics! The already bloomed parts that make this unique flower so special, which are weathering…