Beauty From Hard Places

I didn't think they would come up. I had planted them late in the season and I had taken away the mulch that usually covered them. Not only did they have the disadvantage of my tardiness, but now they had to push through the rough, heavy rock I had placed over them.

In short, my tulips were doomed.

But, despite my worst efforts here, they are getting ready to open and bloom! And, I can’t wait to see the beauty.

It makes me think of us and how everything is going on in our world. Creation always has a way to see the beauty.

It’s such a simple story, but in order for the tulip to show it’s glory, a seed (bulb) must be buried in the ground and die. Out of that death, new life is born. The flower must then push its stem through the soil, break the earth’s surface (and rocks) to reach the world. Only then can we see and watch it grown in size and beauty.

Such a beautiful story of death, burial and resurrection. I can’t think of anything more relevant than the story of resurrection right now. There is no greater truth we can cling to.

In this season we are experiencing part of us, our familiar has died and it’s not been fun (dying never is) but necessary to allow new life to emerge. We’ve had to push through some rough places. Some that have still yet to appear, but are certainly coming. Some that have felt like rocks that weigh all around us. But if we follow the pattern, the striving will be worth it all for we know that beauty will emerge. It will be even more sacred because of the hard place that it came from.

Bio about the author, Shelly Chandler:

Shelly founded GO3 Ministries as a speaking and teaching platform to equip believers to fall in love with God’s Word so they will fall in love with God.

She has been married to Michael for 25 years and has three boys who are 19, 18, and 16. They are fabulous to be around, till they are not, but she would not trade being a boy momma for any other title.

Some interesting facts of her life include co-dependency on her dog, Cooper. God knew she did not need another human child because she slipped into grandparent mode of discipline, which translates as none.

She also has an affinity for coffee, or maybe it’s the creamer within the coffee. Whatever the reason, she is constantly pushing the boundaries of how much coffee is too much. She loves to laugh. She loves to have fun and she loves to see those light-bulb moments when someone grasps just how much God loves them.

Find Shelly on Facebook under Shelly Chandler or on instagram under go3ministries.

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

John 12:24