A bit of the beauty
of God's outside creation
unfolds on the desk before me:
two magnolia blossoms
brought to me by a friend
even as she has so often done
in times past.
I am touched by the beauty of the flowers
and even more by her deep, faithful love
for no reason at all
except her own heart's affection.
Yesterday's bud
is now opening into white elegance,
while yesterday's pure white blossom
is still open wide as before
but has taken on
the brownng cataract -- hue of death.
Together they remain
in tasteful arrangement
in a heavy, simple-beautied vase,
White and beige
without a supporting green of strong leaves.
Youth and age,
life and death --
Both are.
Both are beautiful.
Another day has passed.
The beige has long since darkened
into deep brown
and that blossom is divided
between what remains on the stem
and what has fallen
in graceful positioning
at the base of the vase --
beautiful even in death.
Both are captured
in an indelible picture in my mind
and on camera lens for untold others.
The flowers now live on.
By their life and death,
they are a word from God
to all who see them
and who remember their beauty
which so silently and gently
reflected the Love-depths
of the One who authored their being
and gave them to us
as an enduring gift
inviting us into the Mystery of God.