Beauty & Tragedy

It seems like life has been full of such extreme juxtapositions lately.  We've been experiencing such beauty and hearing of extreme tragedy and loss.  As you know, recently we went on a day trip to see the beautiful fall colors in the mountains.

What I hadn't mentioned, was that the night before a terrible accident occurred just blocks away from our home.  Jay was outside, watering the lawn, when he heard a terrible SCREECH of brakes going down the hill a block away, down Hackberry Hill.  Then he heard the terrible bang that sounded almost like a cannon exploding and he knew it was going to be BAD.  So, out of curiosity he drove over to where many neighbors had already gathered.  There were already several emergency vehicles within just 4 minutes.  When Jay arrived on the scene he saw two cars that had been smashed in the front and which were now both facing the same direction.  They were just pulling one girl, who was screaming in pain, out of one car.  They had already put the man in the truck into the ambulance.  What we learned later, was that they ended up putting a sheet over the red car with the girl in it, because there was another passenger, who did not make it through the accident.  What was even more sad, was that we learned, too, that the man in the truck had been driving drunk, speeding down the hill and then swerved into the oncoming traffic.  So, the poor teenage girls really had no chance to avoid this head-on collision. This catastrophic event hit us especially hard, as it was a girl about Penny's age, who was also a senior in high school.  And this happened at our corner where we turn onto the main thoroughfare out of our neighborhood.  

This awful, fatal accident was certainly a reminder that life is precious and we should be relishing every moment that God has given to us here on this earth and be prepared for whenever He calls us home.

What was sad, was that just about a week after that horrible car crash, we discovered another car wreck occurred in virtually the same spot.  Only this time a car veered off of the road and plowed first into a street light, knocking it down, over the bike trail,

and then into a backyard of someone in our neighborhood, completely obliterating their back fence.

This happened right nextdoor to the home where Penny has sometimes babysat.  How scary for that family, since they have small children who play in their backyard, next to that busy street!  Once again, we said a prayer of thanks for ourselves and this time that there were no reports of someone losing their life in this accident.

While, these kinds of terrible things are occurring and worse things around our world, we don't want to bury our heads and moan as if we have no hope.  We are trying to keep our minds focused on the One who gives us peace and joy.  We want to take pleasure in the beauty of His creation.  We see so many wonderful reminders that He is the great Creator and He cares about us.

This was one of those visual reminders that we took in right outside our front door.  Penny said, "Mom, you should take a picture of the sunset, so that I can paint it!"  Lately, she's learning and growing so much in her understanding of and fascination with art.  She had never ever done a self-portrait before.  But, I'm very proud of her with her very first ever version of herself, which she did in oil pastels.

Notice how far her skills progressed from her first sketch until her final product, in just one week's time.  While she wasn't satisfied that it didn't really look like her, I encouraged her to know that almost every artist never thinks that they have completely reached a work of perfection.  Perhaps because there's that God-given feeling, deep inside of us, that there must be something out there even better.

So, we wait, with expectation, for the day when we will meet the greatest artist, ever; who created this whole entire universe and who is Perfection, Himself.  He will make all things new and then we'll truly find the epitome of pure beauty in our Maker, who loves us so much more than we can even imagine!