Spring

Spring is here. Sunshine, leaves, green grass and beautiful flowers all proclaim it. It has been supper nice the last few days that as a run from class to class to be able to see the change on campus, almost every day i get new flowers from my Father (see previous posts - I think Feb 13 ish) and its just lovely.
However. With spring comes showers, and apparently this part of the united states seems to be blessed with epic thunderstorm showers.
Last night there was one brewing for sometime and when it broke I think just about every person on campus noticed. Rain, lighting, thunder, and HAIL were mixing up  (and then falling down) out of the sky. It was amazing.

So today in the after math there wasn't any damage with the buildings, cars etc. But the evidence of the storm was screaming from the sheds of plants scattered on every cross way, and the beaten weary look from every blade of grass and once leafy bush. In some ways it was kind of sad to see it all gone. But then, as i was walking tonight, honestly not paying any attention at all, I wondered past a flowering bush I had admired previously. Before the storm this bush had been laden with little white flower clusters and it stood out tall and proud, but after the storm it was ragged and torn. The ground around it was covered in factions of leaves and broken blossoms.

 However it wasn't its ragamuffin appearance that caught my attention, for it had almost left my vision completely when I stopped, it was its smell. That bush, as haggard as it was, smelled like heaven.  Fresh, clean, oh it was wonderful! I stopped abruptly and turned around to consider it as I savored its scent. Then He explained it. That bush was beautiful to all outward appearances it was as perfect as it could get. But He (God) could see deeper than what meets the eye, He knew of its hidden perfume. But how to get the fragrance  released? -Through a storm. Through the drumming of the rain, and the beating of the hail, that bush was forced to let out its hidden beauty.

Now then I dont believe that God purposely dishes out bad things to humans as a source of entertainment or manipulation, but I do believe that He uses the bad for good. Its still sad that the bush had to be broken in order for that beauty to come out, that is not how it was purposed to be in the beginning. Its the consequences of living on a sinful planet that calls for such treatment.  Yet even though it was not Gods plan or original idea, He makes use of the "hard stuff" - Not only for plants, but for stubborn humans as well.

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson