jogging again

I should be working on dinner, and I will be soon, but there are so many potential blog posts in my head and NOT ENOUGH TIME... like showing pictures of the first ever time I was in a parade (which, by the way happened last night in our little town. I made it in, because I'm a barista! You just don't make it into San Antonio parades for such accomplishments. I walked along with fellow baristas in front of our owner's jeep made to look like a giant cup of steaming coffee - dry ice on top. We wore our aprons with pockets full of candy to toss out along the way. The whole parade lasted about 12 minutes).

OR I also want to share how recently revisiting the wonderful children's book Betsy-Tacy inspires my whole concept of true friendship anew - that will be to come, I'm sure.

BUT today what I am most needing to post about is my morning jog. It was gorgeous this morning, and I didn't take the ipod because I felt the need to completely experience creation. I was energized by the coolness and the songs of the birds and insects and frogs. I was overwhelmed by the visual impact around me, struggling to know where to let my eyes gaze.

I thought about the structured beauty of the gardens and well-ordered landscapes that make up much of what we experience in nature. I also thought about the gardens and forests that grow out of nature's chaos, out of seeds dropped wherever and allowed to sprout and grow. I thought about the "stuff" we clear out to make room for well-ordered beauty.

I thought about how my Heavenly Father is actually in charge of all of it. In His goodness, He gives us minds that love to create beauty; He gives us resources to do so. He allows us to "control" creation in such a way that we are satisfied with our work and refreshed by its beauty. He is the author of the beauty as the Creator of both the "stuff" we have to work with and the "us" that works with it.

I am also thankful for the beauty that comes from the "chaos" of nature - the unplanned landscapes, untouched by human hands, out of our control, and yet remarkably beautiful. As if some Divine Creator takes what seems like chaos to us, because it is not ordered or controlled by us, and lets us see The Beauty and in fact, the Divine Design of it. It is at those places that we feel most blessed, like we have discovered a treasure meant only for our eyes. The overgrown forest that, if you look underneath the lowest branches, becomes a hidden playhouse for children (or fairies). The monarch that decides to fly just at your right shoulder at the last curve of your jog as if challenging you to a race, keeping you going.

The reminder that divine beauty can come from things outside of our control.