The ugly, small, sharp & weak package object lession

Last night as I ran from my house to my car in the nippy air I paused. (Actually I was waiting for my dog to come bounding up behind me). But God used that moment. I just stood and looked at the stars. The beauty of bright stars on a crispy winter night while listening to the creaking bare limbed trees wrestlessly swaying in the night breezes struck me. God has created all this for my enjoyment. I need to take more time to stop and acknowledge and absorb the wonder in his creation. To realize that those stars have existed years before my existance was even considered; for me to enjoy them. Even if only for a second, in the cold of the night, to see them and thank God for their beauty. Their brightness at times put on by their death just acknowledge God's cycles of life. At the death of something is not the end of its usefullness. And as I looked down to look at what my feet were crunching I saw another aspect of life and death. As the trees loose their leaves they also blow seed packets from my maples. They are sharp and have been annoying me for the last few weeks as I run around barefooted. But God gave them that protection to give them a defense mechanism to survive its predators and have a chance of penitrating the ground to create another tree. The fact that something of such strength and beauty develops from such an ugly, small, painfully sharp, and weak package struck me. God does love to bring beauty from the ashes and strength from the weak. Thank you God for that soft spot in your heart to still desire and long to change those parts of my life that are weak and sharp and ugly. I can't wait to see what you will develop of strength out of those areas. Your beauty astounds me. Your love and mercies are new every morning.