To the Delicate and Strong
The most delicate and beautiful of spring flowers are the first to show up after months and months of bitter cold and wind. In time they fight and sprout up through the dark, cold earth even through remaining ice and snow. And then guess what?
They bloom.
Perhaps more beautiful than the flowers that come mid-summer in the warmth and sunshine are those that flourish despite the bitter cold, in the bitter cold. They shout to the world that spring is here though the world cannot quite feel it yet. Delicate and seeming like they shouldn’t have come forth at all, through the most unlikely circumstances there they are radiating in color and beauty.
I see you.
I see you and I see the same power and beauty of this delicate flower. Though you may be “under the dirt” and experiencing bitter, bitter cold and the ice of biting words, I see you. Though the carelessness of people has frozen you in distrust, I see you. Though great burdens may weigh you down like great storms of heavy snow, I see you. Though it’s dark and hard to see the light, I see you. Though muck and mud separate you into lonely places, I see you. Though it feels impossible that you will ever grow or sprout let alone bloom, I see you.
You are delicate and you are strong.
You’re still alive. You’re still beautiful. You’re still protected and prepared through that ice and snow. It may feel like at times you become numb because the cold and ice is just too much, the darkness and weight of the earth is just too much. “What else can I do, how much more can I handle?!” you cry out.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60
Sweet sister, the light comes and shines. In his glory and his light you rise from the dirt and ice and snow and you blossom and you bloom and you grow. That most beautiful flower amidst the cold and bitter ice. I see you and I see the Lord shining his light over you, signaling that you are rising up out of the dirt and ice to shine – not in the light of your own glory but in his. It is the power of his light that signals your growth and it is his light that brings you right up through that ice and snow.
Look at your beauty! A beauty that he has been shaping under the dirt and ice and snow. Look at how the very ice and snow that pained you in winter and weighed down heavy on you month after month now melts in the light and becomes the very water that nourishes you as you grow! Look at how the dirt and mud that pushed you into lonely places gave you the room to spread your roots as you grow! Look at how you grabbed onto the tiniest beam of light soaking into the ground and pulled up through the darkness into glorious light! Look at you grow and sprout and bloom! Look at how you have become the flower of hope of the coming spring even to a world that cannot yet see it.
Isn’t his light magnificent!? Isn’t his creation beautiful!? Where else can such growth and healing and beauty come from but the heart and mind of a magnificent, beautiful, healing Creator – a Creator who sees you.
Delicate, Strong and Beautiful You.
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and
BLOSSOM LIKE THE CROCUS; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing….
They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. SAY TO THOSE WHO HAVE AN ANXIOUS HEART, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Isaiah 35
Originally written for a dear friend but I wanted to share it with all my dear friends like you.
Encourage your delicate and strong sisters and share if you like!
Love, Tayler <3
