365 2014 Day 55 Last Year’s Lace

I am drawn to them, the remnant of last year’s hydrangeas now softly suspended in the front garden. “I see you” I say to them. I see their truest form, their inmost makings now revealed for all the world to view.  Their flower bones rattle in the cold winter breeze and yet they still cling to their source. They are a picture of the beauty that comes with brokenness.

I see myself.

Gone is the color and vigor of summer; gone are the loud parades and tossing of bouquets. Only their lovely frames remain, the places that make them who they are. I smile at their fragility. It is more beautiful to me than the opaque pinks and blues of summer. These flowers still sing glory. They still reflect the beauty of their maker. They are utterly and completely vulnerable. Having shed their defenses, they can now know love in its most exhilarating form.

And they know this — spring will come again and they will be reborn. Strength made perfect in weakness, life through death and surrender. Yes, let go and let him in.

This is the way of love.

Psalm 73:23-26

“Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
 You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever.”