When I first came up for the idea for this blog series, the leaves were in full display of fall colors and I was thinking that those colorful leaves could be one of these entries. But then one day I got up and overnight the color was suddenly gone. Most of the leaves had dropped from the trees, and even the ones on the ground seemed to have suddenly turned brown.

So, today, when I looked outside and noticed the odd yellow coloring in the light of the late afternoon and suddenly remembered I needed to find something to photograph for a blog post, I headed out with camera and toddler to see what I could find. From the window everything looked just as brown as can be, but it turns out that there is color out there if you get close enough to see it. The red of a hidden leaf on the ground, the orange adding subtle color to the leaves clinging to the trees, the green of a tenacious patch of grass clinging to life. None of it was obvious until I got close, but once I did, it was beautiful. Elise saw me taking pictures and poked her head out of the front door: “Mom, what are you doing?” “I’m taking pictures for my blog. I’m trying to find things that are beautiful.” “So you think brown leaves are beautiful?” “They look brown from there Elise, but if you get close, there’s actually a lot of color here.”

And that is what beauty is sometimes like: hard to see, unless you get close. Something I’ve been thinking about lately is working to see glimpses of God in others, as we all are made in his image. But we have to get close to see it. From a distance all we see is the outer shell, sometimes it takes getting close, really getting to know someone to see that inner beauty that reflects God. So, Lord help me to have the courage to get close enough to people to see their hidden beauty.