Something Beautiful

Do not let your adorning be external, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which in God’s sight is very precious. 2 Peter 3:4

A few months ago Randy and I had the opportunity to visit St. Petersburg, Russia. Among the beautiful palaces, gardens, and scenery we saw there, one of the most interesting things was the Faberge egg collection. The beautiful egg was first created for Czar Alexander III on the occasion of the 20th year anniversary of his marriage. Although the egg itself is beautiful on the outside, the surprise is on the inside. The original one contained a gold egg inside and inside the egg was a golden hen. Maria, his wife, loved it so much that she commissioned others to be made. I brought a souvenir egg home as a reminder of the collection.

Our lives can be likened to the Faberge eggs as it’s not so much what’s on the outside but rather what we find on the inside that counts. These past two weeks have proved that to our family. We have watched a dear member of our extended family die suddenly, and in the same week gathered to participate as a dear friend’s daughter happily married her love. What two emotions could be further distanced from each other, yet be beautiful each in its own way.? God received a new saint into heaven, and He also blessed a marriage.

Now, our country and world is dealing with a virus which seems to have driven us all to a mild panic. All this happening at one time is proof to me that God can take a situation or a nation and endow that person or nation with strength enough to make a profound mark upon the history of their time. In God’s strength, we can take the loss of a loved one, the joy of a marriage, or the epidemic that threatens us, break it open, and discover a precious level of grace inside.

Grace is defined as “free and unmerited favor”. God has looked down upon our family, our friends, and our country by making us stronger than our circumstances and helping us turn each situation to our good. Christ is building His kingdom with all the broken people and situations on this earth. There is nothing that He can’t take and restore to a glorious place of blessing and beauty.

We are so grateful and thankful for lives well lived, for new beginnings, and for strength. It’s something beautiful to see God at work.

Something beautiful, something good; All my confusion, He understood; All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife; But He made something beautiful of my life. Bill Gaither