Finding beauty in unlikely places

I love roadtrips. But i also like stopping. Getting my feet on the ground. Leaving the air conditioner behind and getting dusty and sweaty. I sometimes like it even more if i cut across a field where there is no path - wondering if my footprints were the first ones on this particular piece of earth. I like to think so. But taking the less traveled or the “unbeaten” path you do have more risks...you will encounter obstacles that others have not cleared for you. You might have to cross a river - it could be in flood, or it could just be an unexpected deep gorge. There might be fencing and gates. Recently i even saw the impossibility of walking through a Spekboom forest. Tangles of thick roots blocking your way wherever you turn. At least if you do get stuck there you could eat your way out😋 All this reminding me a bit of my own life at the moment...

I was walking on such a non-path this weekend. Walking in these wild and wide open spaces, under a Karoo blue sky - such a difference in scenery compared to my usual ocean and beach walks. At first I didn’t really appreciate it much. It was dry and rocky and kind of desolate. A cold wind made me shiver. I had to climb over a fence and a gate, duck under thorny branches and felt a bit lost. If I wasn’t with a friend, i might have turned around and climbed into my car to head home. But I didn’t and i am glad for it, because as we walked I discovered a whole new world. Plants that were created for this harsh environment. And they could thrive! I discovered beauty in an unlikely place. Tiny succulents with perfect little leaves. Minute yellow flowers. Tall proud and ready to bloom aloes - standing like sentinels across the valley. Weird and wonderful in their own way, but still beautiful. Little and big stones with some fossil markings on. 100 year old ruins and graves that tell a story...broken pieces of porcelain that was once a beautiful little something. I found a rusted tin cup and wondered who it belonged to and was there real coffee or just some grounded roots pretending to be? But nonetheless a beautiful rusted tin cup. 

All this touched my soul deeply. The ruins of our past, the hurt and pain, the times of severe droughts - it all can still be beautiful in the end. And i will keep looking for that beauty; God’s redeeming beauty.

Bella