How Attractive and Beautiful they Will Be

The oak are exploding into green fireworks atop their tall trunks. In the blink of an eye, the naked trees are clothed. I am still holding off on my allergy meds, preferring instead to claw at my itching eyes with a fork. Oak pollen is the allergen my body likes to eat itself from the inside out over. Once the oak are done spewing their dust of chemical warfare, I can relax and enjoy the rest of the spring. I hate taking medication of any kind. I have always felt that allowing one's body to defend itself is the best first choice. Sometimes, of course, that fails, and I move to plan B. The allergy meds are sitting on the shelf ready to be deployed should the warfare advance beyond this army of one's ability to gain any strategic advantage.

Meanwhile, a new intriguing project has presented itself. Our greenways here in Charlotte are all built along areas that used to be dumping grounds. They therefore lie atop dangerous deposits of methane gas. Or maybe methane gas is just here naturally. I guess I am not sure why our city lies atop potential explosives. If methane gas is slowly released into the atmosphere, it dissipates and is of no harm to anything but the olfactory sense which recognizes the smell of raw sewage decaying. This makes the Greenway experience less optimal than it could be, however, more optimal than innocently lighting a match and being blown into tiny pieces when the stream of methane erupts and detonates. The ingenious Greenway builders installed sewer pipes, tall metal straws with one end buried deep underground to tap the methane, and then channel the gas to the surface where it slowly escapes through the tall green pipes that extend several feet above Greenway walkers' noses. As you may imagine, amidst the primal beauty of the wetlands and forests returned to their natural beauty, the walk along the greenway is disrupted by the presence of these tall ugly pipes every quarter mile or so. Well the town of Matthews has decided to take action on this blight. They are asking area artists to submit ideas for turning the monstrosities into public art. Every time I pass those sewer pipes, I envision what they could be with a little imagination. It is a contest tailor made for me. Now, I have only done one other public art contest, and I did win a contract. This was many years ago. I decided, it was time for me to again try my hand at beautifying my community.

Of course, depending on when the project begins, I will be working on my sewer pipe in the midst of acres and acres of pollinating oak trees. I could be soaking in lethal doses of both methane and allergens. And what's worse...I may not be the only artist vying for this privilege. I might not even get the contract. I don't even know if it is paid, but I don't really care. I really want to transform a methane pipe into a thing of beauty.

So I wrote to the project manager and asked for details. I guess I am a little late hearing about the contest, as I have less than a week to submit my sketches. It will only take me this afternoon though to complete. I have had the vision of what those pipes should be for years now.

I love taking ugly, unwanted, undesirable things and transforming them. Anyone can take something beautiful and enhance it. It takes a whole different kind of skill set to see potential in the sewer pipes of life. This is my favorite aspect of God. God doesn't see us for what we are, raising ugly souls that sometimes selfishly spew poison and nastiness without even being aware of it. He sees us as we could be, as we will be if we allow His redemptive hand to mold and make us. One of the best pieces of relationship advice I ever heard, and I cannot remember where I first heard it, was to look upon each other as God sees us, as the person we will be when God is done with us, and act as though we have already become what God knows we can be.

I would love to explain this further, but I have a sewer pipe I want to beautify, and the deadline is looming.....

Zechariah 9:16-17
The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be!







-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org