Longing for Beauty

     Don't we all want to be beautiful?  We are bombarded by magazine and TV ads telling us what beauty is.  We shop for the perfect shade of lipstick.  We spend time in front of the mirror trying to get our hair just so.  We dress for success.  We do whatever we can to make ourselves feel beautiful.
     "Real beauty comes from within."  How many times have you heard your mother or a friend say that?  It's something we are told at a young age when we are trying too hard to achieve the standard set for us by Hollywood and the marketing agencies.  They are words meant to comfort us in those awkward teen years when we feel like we have three eyes and two heads and are surely the most hideous creature ever.  We use them when talking about someone who may not be physically beautiful.  They become an excuse.  To not be our best.
   
     However, they are so very true.


     Beauty, true beauty, doesn't just happen.  It is cultivated.  Tended.  Nurtured.  The beauty that glows from deep within.  The beauty that encourages and strengthens another.  The beauty of right relationships.  The beauty of a giving heart. 
     Yesterday my daughter and I went to the botanical gardens in the city where she lives.  There are 175 acres of flowers, shrubs, and trees, and, of course, we didn't get to see it all.  The parts we did see, though, were simply beautiful.  Azaleas in light pink, dark pink, red, orange, purple, with large flowers and tiny clusters of blooms, plants massive in size or very small.  Tulips in varieties of bright colors and sizes and shapes.  Tiny blooms on some plants, and towering trees providing precious shade.  Then I noticed something we almost overlooked.  The lady on her knees in the back of one particular area, tenderly planting new plants for summer blooms. 
     That's when I realized how guilty I am of expecting perfection without being willing to work for it.  This magnificent garden of acres and acres of carefully maintained plants, paths, ponds, canals, bridges, and sculptures, didn't just happen overnight.  In fact, we learned that people were hired for 75 cents per day to clean out the swamp that became this mecca of serenity that quietly calms the soul.  While riding the tram to get a quick overview of the property, we saw the maintenance area, which was rather large.  There were several buildings housing vehicles and tools, and in the shade there was a picnic table with several ladies gathered around having lunch.  A small glimpse into the toil that goes into creating the perfection we had been enjoying.
     I will share with you some of the flowers we saw:

     I think you probably smiled when looking at these pictures.  They might have brought you a lot of joy.  The bright pink brightens my day.  The little lady bug on the big white blooms, the perfect touch.  The unusual root of some mysterious plant that just intrigued me.  The pale yellow orchids.  And we all know the Bonsai tree takes much skill and care that most of us can only stand back and admire.  Each one beautiful.  Each one tenderly cared for with gentle hands.  Yet they also need the hot sun and the drenching rains.  It takes more than wishing to be beautiful.  It takes support.  It takes enduring strength.  It takes living, and living fully what only YOU are created to be. 
     The orchid will never look like a tulip which will never look like a Bonsai which will never have huge blossoms like the snowball bush.  Be beautiful.  Be yourself.  Take care of yourself and don't worry about the other gal.  As the saying goes, bloom where you are planted.
     These words by Maya Angelou may say it best:  "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has to gone through to achieve that beauty."  What changes do you need to make?  From seed to seedling to tender shoots to brightly colored blooms, it's a process.  And sometimes it hurts.  Are you ready to admit the changes YOU need to go through to achieve true beauty?  Beauty that comes from within?