Embrace the Quirky!
Do you know God gave you the interests He did for a reason? It could be that He loves sharing Himself with you through those things, like my fascination with…
Trust me. Be the Lizard.
Last week I had to make a last minute trip to the Texas Hill Country. The short version is I left right after the height of rush hour for a…
It’s Just Different
Funny story time because I’m tired and my filter went out for nachos. I have looked at these pictures SO MANY TIMES. I have had them on my phone as…
I went for a walk in the neighborhood this morning, and the yards are beginning to turn purple with tiny little flowers that look like specks from my eye-view, but when I stop, sit or lie on the ground, and lean in close, I see tiny purple petals surrounding a clump of pistils and stamen waving in the breeze on their long stems. Beside them are tiny purple and white blooms that remind me of an orchid. I took a picture of both and texted them to friends because one does not keep glorious stuff like this to oneself.
A friend replied that the first is Stork’s-bill and the second is Henbit deadnettle. I tell him I am fascinated.
And I am.
I am fascinated with flowers and moss and sunrises and sunsets and water in every form and leaves and so much.
But it isn’t just the beauty that captures me. It’s the weirdness.
For instance, the Henbit deadnettle is shaped in such a way that bugs have to crawl into it, but now I am wondering what bugs are so tiny that they crawl into that pitcher area and crawl back out with pollen to carry to the next flower, and how do they get from the flowers to the spiky seed holders that help seeds drill into the ground so next year another generation of flowers to feed the tiny bugs and mesmerize the curious humans appear? Speaking of those seeds spikes, how many other plants create those? I’ve never noticed them before, but that is wild!
I am fascinated by these glorious color specks that cover yards, and I want to know why they look like they do and do what they do…and the common flower covering the ground become anything but common, and I become wonder-filled.
And I take a picture and share it with the stories of these flowers and the questions and point out the weirdness…and invite friends into the wonder.
Here, in this spot where our lives connect, I invite you into the wonder.
Mostly, though, I invite you to see the weirdness of flowers and perfect design of a leaf and beautiful offerings of the ocean on a beach. Take long looks and wonder how a bird’s beak is strong enough to poke a hole through a think clam shell and wonder why leaves turn fiery colors in the fall, not from a scientific chlorophyll explanation but from a practical one, and be amazed by the lack of answer that to me provides the obvious one.
I invite you to slow down and see more than pictures. I invite you to see and feel the wonder of the beauty and weirdness that surrounds us.
And I encourage you to slow down, take a walk, and find your own wonder.
Wishing you the most wonder-ous adventures!