BEAUTIFUL ME, BEAUTIFUL YOU

Dispelling the Lies of Hollywood

When I was a child the pastor of our church who lived down the lane had just finished planting hibiscus plants along his driveway. He had an extra one and offered it to me. I planted it in the sandbox much to my siblings dismay. Apparently hibiscus plants love sand. It grew and produced beautiful flowers. It has been a favorite of mine since.

We are God's garden of flowers. He plants us where we will grow the best. He nurtures us and tends to our needs. Unlike the hibiscus who just basks in it's own beauty we tend to compare ourselves to what we see on the Hollywood movie screen, magazine covers, music videos and all that nonsense. It is like a dandelion wishing it was a rose and not considering that the rose, while pretty, has thorns and eventually dies and falls to the ground. The dandelion changes into a fluffy ball that, with the wind, learns to fly!

Ecclesiastes states that "He makes ALL things beautiful in it's time".

Remember that saying, "Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone"? How many times have we seen what Hollywood shows us as beauty and then to find out about the wickedness that was beneath that beauty. We are seeing this more and more these days as Hollywood collapses under the weight of the secret lives of these so called beautiful people. Their beauty is not reality. It is all manufactured to keep us coming back for more of their lies.

I used to love carnations. Their scent was beautiful and they were so pretty and soft. They came in so many colors even BLUE, my favorite. Then I discovered that most of them are unnaturally dyed. I was devastated. You mean they don't come in that color? I think this is a picture of Hollywood. The last year revealed many Hollywood actors, without make up and their coveted "youth serum". The last photo I saw of Tom Hanks was frightening. The same with Johnny Depp. These men look sick to me. Normally they are glamorous and so perfectly put together. But the facade is crumbling. Their lies are being exposed and it is quite the revealing picture.

Imagine Jesus tending his garden of flowers. He waters us with living water. He feeds us with the bread of life. He shines his light of the world on us and we grow into the flowers of his amazing garden, full of color, sweet scent, and buzzing with life!

Imagine Jesus working the soil to make sure our roots run deep. Daily tending to everything we need. Pulling the weeds from around us and removing all rocks and hindrances from our lives. He cares for us as a gardener cares for his flowers.

My grandfather was a gardener. I have photos of him with prize winning flowers from the 1930s. He was quite accomplished. When he would visit, my dad would always ask him advice about his plants. He spent a lot of time looking over and tending to my mother's roses. He even died in his garden. But his gardens were never as beautiful as those cultivated by the master gardener, the Lord of Creation.

Imagine Jesus walking through this garden every day and admiring his prize flowers. There are none like us anywhere in the universe. We are the works of art that continue to grow and shed beauty wherever we go because Jesus is blowing our seeds into the wind and teaching us to fly.

Luke 12:27-31 "“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

Forrest E. Underwood (PopPop) and his awards for his flowers early1930s