Beauty and Devastation...

Beauty and Devastation...1-27-2026

One of my many passions is photography. I am constantly looking at the world and grabbing my phone or DSLR to take an image. I have gladly passed this love on to my grandson. A couple of days ago, he saw our Cardinal (who visits every day) and said, "Moppy, can I have your phone?" (I will be getting him a camera before our vacation.) When he showed me the photo my immediate thought was Solomon’s glory written about in Matthew 6:29 and Luke 12:27.  I know that Jesus was referring to the grasses of the field, but I also think this applies to the natural beauty within animals and the surrounding world as well. In Matthew 6:26-27, Jesus told His disciples, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” 

That same morning, a prayer request came for friends who had lost their chicken house where they had farm equipment, various other materials, and their hay.  That same day, my husband went to check our cows and feed noticing that our old chicken house, where we keep some of our equipment and our hay, collapsed as well.  Another friend lost their carport, another lost the side shed on his barn where his truck was, and another lost two barns.  I know of many people in the surrounding communities that have lost chicken houses, barns, carports, and sheds to the devastating ice/sleet that piled up from the winter storms.  Yet within all the devastation lies a simplistic beauty of the white grounds, the trees with their shimmering branches bowing before God, and the birds as they forage providing a beauty that cannot be denied as their coats stand out in stark contrast to the white world around them. 

Just as our Lord provides for the birds of the air with food and clothes them in glorious splendor, He provides for us.  I love the last part of Matthew 6:27, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  No, we cannot.  As my husband and I have talked endless hours about how to get the hay out of the barn without tearing it up and anyone getting hurt, there is no profit in worry.  As I have said before, I am a Pollyanna, he is not.  Although, I am concerned, I know God will provide the answers.  Being upset about life’s trouble hours and potholes is okay.  But, Faith tells us that God will give us what we need.  He will provide. He will cover us with His hand in protection.  Faith is knowing that in all the devastation, there is beauty.