Time Delayed Beauty

“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ec 3:11 AV)

Solomon is exactly right.  God hath made everything beautiful, in His time.  But that is the key.  In His time.  Often, this verse is referenced when something beautiful is found.  Maybe a sunset or a mountain peak covered in snow.  Perhaps a flower blooming from a cactus.  Then there is the caterpillar and butterfly.  When this verse is referenced, the example is usually past or past tense.  Rarely is it considered as a future promise.  But this verse can be considered as just that.  When we look at the cactus, we can quote this verse knowing a flower is coming.  When sitting in a tree stand and the temperature has made our nose turn red and our feet cool, we can quote this verse knowing that the sun will rise and another beautiful day dawn.  Knowing the truth of the verse is not the problem.  The problem is those last three words.  In His time.

My wife follows this artist on Facebook.  I scroll through her news to watch these short video clips.  She is not a realist.  She doesn’t create art by meticulous detailed painting of every shadow and color.  Rather, her talent lies in pouring paint and using odd instruments like chains, Q-tips, tinfoil, or sponges to create her painting.  Brushes are only used in general senses.  Only very rarely does she use paintbrushes to paint in detail.  She starts with a canvas or other media and pours paints in creative ways.  Sometimes she pours them into a can with both ends cut off.  She layers the paints, then lifts the can so they flow in a pattern.  Other times, she will drag a paint-laden chain off the canvas.  Or, she will put dots of different paints and then use a trowel to spread them.  When she starts, you wouldn’t think any desirable art would come of it.  But when she is down, her work is amazing.  When at one time it was a mess of paint that seemed to be thrown haphazardly on a white canvas, when she is done, it looks like a field of flowers or a starry sky reflected in a pool of water.  It is amazing.  What is the difference?  Time.  Her time.  She knows where she is going with what seems like a mess.

This is how God works.  Life may seem like a mess right now, but something beautiful is coming.  We may live a life that beauty is not the word that comes to mind, but if we know Christ, there is coming a time when we will be transformed into the image of His Son perfectly and without blemish.  God is good.  He has a plan.  We are His workmanship.  He has not created garbage.  There is a sunrise coming.  There is a new day dawning.  There is coming a day when all that makes life ugly will be gone.  This is a promise.  Nature is our evidence.  A fire may destroy acres of forest, but visit that land in a few decades and beauty will have risen from the ash.  God does make everything beautiful.  But He does so on His time.  Waiting makes all the difference.