Landscapes

Even though I don’t tend to use fresh phrases when I write or speak, they delight me. Therefore, I felt intrigued when I discovered one (“the landscape of life”) someone else had written.

Although I hadn't thought about associating the word landscape with life, I suddenly saw the connection. 

Physical Landscapes

Some of the features in a physical landscape are natural—boulders, mountains, bodies of water, cliffs, etc. Others are added by humans. For example, property owners create whatever “look” pleases them (or they can choose to do nothing).

Case in point: when my husband and I vacationed in Arizona several years ago, we noticed striking differences between the green lawns that were as irrigated and well-tended as golf courses and those that were left in their natural desert-like state. The contrast was even more evident when the lawns were adjacent to each other. Each “look” was beautiful and reflected the preferences of the owners.

Life Landscapes

I suppose some folks, when asked to describe the “landscape of their lives,” might use a fresh phrase such as: 

• “My life looks as barren as the desert.” 
• “My life is as bleak as the Arctic in winter.” 
• “My life is as interesting as the rainforest.” 
• “My life is as lush as an island paradise.” 

Whatever the landscape of our life looks like, we can choose to leave it like it is or enhance it, even if we can’t completely change it. How?

There are some things we could do. 

1. Take a close look at what our life currently looks like.
2. Dream a little about what we’d like it to look like.
3. Calculate the cost involved in changing it. Do we want to invest that much? Will the ROI (Return on Investment) be worth it? 
4. If so, then set to work making the changes we envision. 
5. Enjoy the results of our hard work.

But... the BEST PLAN is to ask God to transform the landscape of our lives. After all, He is the one who can do far more than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20), even turn wildernesses into gardens (Isaiah 51:3).

Photo by Johnnie Ann Gaskill.

Make Life Beautiful

In an article in the June 2013 issue of Southern Living magazine, writer Allison Glock talks about her great-grandfathers’ gardens, which were as different as the men themselves. One man’s garden was formal. The other’s was wild and free. Yet, each one was filled with beauty.

“In both houses,” Allison says, “there were jars of fresh flowers, blooms that reminded them that life could be beautiful, that they could make it so” (p. 78, “Portrait in Green”).

As I reflected on her words, I recalled the times I’ve visited (and photographed!) the garden of a humble, gentle-spirited man who lives in a small house. Like Allison’s great-grandfathers, this man has also surrounded himself with beauty.

He has planted flowers almost everywhere in his small yard. Other than a grassy pathway, which runs alongside his house and leads to his “sitting area” and to his small vegetable garden near the back fence, almost every available inch of his yard is ablaze with color.

In order to add a splash of color to the part of the yard that is more utilitarian than beautiful, he has hung a sunflower flag on a tree near a table covered with an assortment of unfilled flower pots.

He is happy to share the beauty of his garden with others. For example, when children in his neighborhood ask to be allowed to help him plant and weed and water, he teaches them to care for the plants and to appreciate their beauty, as he does.

Like Allison’s great-grandfathers, he believes life can be beautiful and that people can make it so.

They’re right, aren’t they? We can—and do—cultivate beauty in all kinds of spaces, whether in huge formal gardens surrounding a mansion or in limited space alongside a small house.

We also create beauty in all kinds of ways, not just in flower gardens. Consider: the chef who makes each entrée a work of art…the fashion designer who adds detail to a garment to make it uniquely beautiful…an interior designer who knows just what to put where in order to create a stunningly beautiful room.

Even folks who don’t get paid to create beauty do it instinctively. Take, for example, the person who creates beauty by artfully arranging assorted, chopped, colorful veggies…the man who washes and waxes his car until it looks brand new...the child who gathers a handful of wild flowers to present to her mother... the toddler who draws on a wall with a crayon…

Because we humans have an innate longing for beauty, we either find it—or create it!

Poets and writers use words to paint pictures for us to enjoy; photographers and artists create visual feasts. Even folks who don’t consider themselves artistic or creative, crave beauty and, thus, create it in all kinds of places and with whatever materials are at hand.

Even when life is hard—especially when life is hard—we have a need for beauty. We flank caskets with flowers to soften the harshness of death. We place flowers and balloon bouquets around the room of those who are ill. We dress in bright colors in order to lift our spirits.

Yes, life can be beautiful. And we should make it so! In the process, let’s also take time to thank our Father for the beauty He’s already provided for us, as Folliott S. Pierpoint did when, in 1864, he penned these words:

For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth,

Over and around us lies;

Christ our God to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.