More Beautiful Than You Can Imagine

      This world is filled with so much beauty and splendor that it is oftentimes breathtaking to me. Springtime is a remarkable time of the year, and I find myself soaking in the variety of colors that surround me all around outside. The soft yellow greens of the newly budding trees after a drab gray winter turn into bold green leaves that appear as if overnight. The colorful flowers that open up to reveal their beauty inside are so intricately woven together, it looks as if a Master Artist reached down and formed each and every one by hand. Well, didn't He?

     I attended two weddings these past two weeks and cannot get over the beauty I saw at each one - the color schemes of the brides were gorgeous matches and I could not stop staring at the bouquets of lavenders, mauves and rose reds, against the pureness of their white gowns. It is amazing to think that God created these colors for us to enjoy here on earth, and yet, it is not even a glimpse of what He had intended for us to experience while we lived here. He placed Adam and Even in a garden that was beyond our imagination...it was perfect. A place God called good. He was happy with His handiwork and smiled. It was a place to enjoy sweet fellowship with the people He created for His pleasure. The world was an Eden, a place of rest, free from sin and evil. Just think: the world as we see it now is not how God created it in the beginning. I try to imagine what the world might have looked like, and I do not think I can come close to even imagining a hint of the beauty, and that makes me extremely sad.  

     Over time sin corrupted nature and our bodies, bringing in new sickness after sickness as the years broke down the beauty that surrounded us. That one choice that Adam and Even made to disobey brought death and evil into our world. That evil has spread through the earth like a poison and dimmed the colors of creation. In Romans 8 it talks about how creation is groaning in pain, waiting for God to make everything better again. I must agree that there are times when I groan from the evil around me; to see what sin has caused in this earth. People hurting people; animals hurting each other; bodies wracked with pain - all because the first two people chose to do what they thought was best. It was not God's best and because of that we all suffer and need a Savior.  What we see now is only a drop in the bucket of what God meant for us to enjoy and if this takes my breath away here on earth, when I see the beauty of heaven, it will be a good thing that I am already dead because I might not regain my breath after viewing the glory of heaven. 

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