The picture above is just a leaf. Something that is so ordinary, so temporary. Right now, you see them everywhere! Millions, hundreds of millions of leaves, bursting from the trees around us. They add to the cascade of green which is summertime in the Great Plains. But it was only a few short weeks ago that our landscape was bare. Even now (though we hardly want to think of it) each gorgeous summer day marches closer and closer to Autumn. Then this cacaphony of leaves that surrounds us will change, wither and fall. And yet while they last, God has arrayed them with an innate beauty, if only we take the time to notice.
That sort of innate beauty is found in all manner of things around us. Consider the fragile patterns of an insect's wings, the sinews of a stalking lion, the majestic vista of a mountain stream, the hundreds upon hundreds of stars twinkling above us on a clear night, the sun setting the earth and sky afire with hues of orange, pink, purple, and blue as it slowly melds into the horizon.
