One fine evening

One fine evening I went for a walk with some people I love.  A sweet little sleeping "Wish-Well" snuggled in the the arms of her mom with her daddy by her side.

The sky was an amazing display of color and light. This day was not slipping away unnoticed.

The tranquil evening was interrupted by unsettling, anguished cries from across a field.

We were greeted back at the farm with new life in the barn.  The evening felt lovely and peaceful.

But this little one was too early, too small.  His eyes were sealed shut and would never open to see that most beautiful sky - a sky that made me stop and wonder of the glory of Heaven.  The gorgeous sky that was here for just those few moments that this life came and went.

This creature was here for those few fleeting moments of beauty, but he never saw it.  He was in a darkened barn filled with agitated hens raining hen droppings around him, and the beauty of the night was slipping away from me.

I was reminded that my God is a gracious God.  That there is ugliness and sadness in this world, but God is loving and offers hope.  He offers moments of beauty that only He can create in a world that offers much much less.  He offers hope and peace and everlasting beauty.  He offers glimpses of what is to come for those who believe. 

On that one evening He offered a brilliant red and purple sky.  He offered witness of a newly formed life.  He offered an evening that made me stop and wonder at the majesty and grace of my awesome God,

and the evening was beautiful again.