God's Beauty

Over this past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Missouri to visit Zach and finally meet his family! With him living so far from Vegas we have to patiently wait for a chance to see one another. This means lots of texting back and forth as well as nightly phone calls to maintain our relationship. This being said, when the chance comes to see one another we cherish that time.

I had a more than fabulous weekend getting to see where Zach lives his everyday life. Hearing about his apartment, his parent's house, school, the stores he frequents and the church his dad pastors can not compare with being able to see those things in person. What a blessing!

Zach and I stayed fairly busy during my time in Missouri, but it was a wonderful time of being with him. We ended up being able to attend a wedding that Zach was a groomsman in. Most of our time on Friday night and all day Saturday we spent focused on the wedding. We had the chance to hang out with a couple of other couples giving me the chance to be-friend the girlfriends of those pairs. Meaning I wasn't alone while Zach fulfilled his responsibilities. Zach and I got all dressed up that Saturday and ended up spending a couple hours on the dance floor. Me, making a fool of myself and Zach putting up with stepping on his feet. It was good fun!

Sunday was the day focused on the family. We spent the morning getting ready for and attending church. I was able to be there when Zach's sister, Hannah, got baptized, was able to hear his dad preach a solid message and watched his mom lead the congregation in worship. It was a sweet time. That afternoon after family dinner we watched a little football and then headed out to meet the grandparents. With me being from Vegas the Haffecke family was very aware of the fact that I know almost nothing about nature and am certainly not used to seeing trees, greenery and bodies of water everywhere. So we spent some time driving through a state park to allow me to capture the beauty of Missouri. Throughout the drive I must have repeated "It's so beautiful here" close to one hundred times. In fact, I said it so much that I was growing weary of it myself but couldn't keep from proclaiming it. Breath taking beauty everywhere.

All piled in the car on the way home from the grandparents Zach made an interesting comment about my multiple observations of the state's beauty. He mentioned how refreshing it was to hear, because living there he often forgets how beautiful it is. It becomes the norm. Easily forgotten when it surrounds you.

This got me thinking. How often do I forget God's beauty? Not just the beauty He gives us in nature but the beauty of grace He bestows on our lives. We are saturated with it. It becomes the normal. Forgotten, overlooked. Sometimes, it takes someone pointing it out to you to remember how blessed you truly are. Blessed even though I don't deserve it. What if I lived my life in such a way that I couldn't help proclaiming God's beauty with every other breath?

Working on allowing God's beauty to radiate in my everyday life.

What a great weekend we had! Blessed to have had the time to visit beautiful Missouri. Blessed to be surrounded by Zach's wonderful and loving family. Blessed that they liked me! :) Can't wait to go back!

God is good, and His beauty is breath taking, all the time.