Beauty

Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent

 

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.

Psalm 101:3

 

Almost with me noticing, my peace lily has set forth two beautiful blooms. I have had this plant for many years now, gifted to me one fourth of July after completing its duty as a centerpiece at a church coffee hour. It was small then, leaves only, in a 4” pot with a red-white-and-blue ribbon. This first time it bloomed was in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.  I saw it as a kind of miracle, a witness to life and beauty and creation in the midst of death and desolation and the unraveling of the world.

 

Now the lily’s richness has multiplied and I make myself stop what I am doing for the moment to enjoy its lushness. So many more things grab my attention these days than was true two years ago. Then, I marked the daily progress of a small leaf unfurling into a beautiful bloom. Now, I have given these two only passing glances.

 

My Lenten journey is not complete. There is still time to notice the blooms of the desert and set my eyes upon the beauty that is found only along the wilderness road.