Find the Gold

As a ND-newbie, I remember the first time I saw a sunflower field, almost ready for harvest. "What are those?!" and then finding out, "Well they look like sunflower-corpses!" It's a sad sight, really. The once oh-so-happy, sunshiny flowers are dead-as-can-be, complete with drooping heads. They look a little something like this:This year, I had a thought: I wonder if there's something pretty amongst all the ugly?So I set out, girl on a mission, ready to see what I could find.And you know what? I found that if you look hard enough......close enough......there is beauty.And then it occurred to me. Finding and photographing the beauty in the chaos, in the disappointment, in the downright ugly, is a lot like a life lesson mom and dad taught me years ago.They'd tell me, "Take the good and leave the rest," when I found myself heartbrokenly disappointed in the people in my life. Meaning, find the good and love 'em for it. Don't focus on the ugly stuff that breaks your heart.My friend Katie Pinke shared an image the other day that put it this way: Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold. How beautiful is that?! An interpretation of Proverbs 11:27.In short, there's beauty and good amongst the bad and the ugly. We just have to be looking for it in the right light......God's light.