Beauty Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

Recently my family took a vacation to Sarasota, FL. While standing on our sixth floor balcony I noticed something out of the ordinary. There, growing out of one of the concrete drains, was a small plant. Something beautiful had begun to grow from one of the most unexpected places. The Bible says something similar about us.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

“He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

We all have things in our lives that we wish were not part of our story, and the first part of this verse is a wonderful reminder that beauty can come from the most unexpected places in our lives. It is a promise that in God’s timing everything will be made beautiful. The decisions that you made in high school that led to an unplanned pregnancy. The addiction that was developed in college. The time you were let go for fudging the numbers at work. A simple conversation with a friend that led to an emotional or physical affair. The countless times you took your anger out on your kids. All of this, if we put our trust in Jesus, will one day be redeemed. In God’s timing it will be made beautiful.

If you are like me, sometimes it’s hard to see what God is doing. It’s difficult to see how God is making things beautiful. It’s important for us to not dwell on what we cannot see. Doing so will only cause unnecessary anxiety in our lives. We don’t have a crystal ball to tell us how or when things will be redeemed. Even if we did, in the second half of Ecclesiastes 3:11 we see that there are things in life that we “cannot find out what God has done.” The NIV says, “no one can fathom what God has done.” The NLT says, “people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work.” It’s important for us to remind ourselves, rehearse it everyday, that God is at work, making everything beautiful, even if we can’t see what He is doing. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.