The landscape is covered in white. The sky is thick with heavy, gray clouds.

Suddenly, the sun peeks through for a moment. Long, blue shadows stretch gracefully from glistening, diamond clad trees. And it changes everything.

Once alive with happy butterflies and busy bees, the barren meadow yields to the weight of heavy frost.

Suddenly, one purple violet peeks out from beneath the dried grass. And it changes everything.

Life is like that. We can be surrounded by desolation. There is so much pain we can only succumb to its presence.

But God tells us not to focus on it even though it is visibly threatening. Admit it. Accept it.

But don’t focus on it.

Beyond the obvious, there is something hidden worth looking for. In fact, most of the time, you don’t even have to look. You just find it. When you least expected it.

Have you ever found a flower growing through a crack in the sidewalk? Why does it always make us stop and look?

Because it matters.

We can become so used to seeing a particular way which causes us to think a particular way, we don’t consider things from a different angle.

                                  anastasiaphotography via Foter.com /CC BY-NC-ND

Linger.

Gaze.

Let it settle deeply in your soul.

Remember.

Focus.

Believe.

And all the rest will take its proper place.