This morning I woke up early for quiet time in paradise. Brad found a tiki hut cabana overlooking the city near a jungle for us to stay. He didn’t tell me about it, because for the price he was convinced something was wrong in the description. It’s like half treehouse, half dreams come true. I love travel.
I’ve never full slept under a thatch roof before. It turns out they are waterproof—it’s a cool sound when it rains, after you realize you aren’t getting drenched 😂. They aren’t sound proof, and I do love an early morning, so when the birds invited me to come outside at 6, I snuck out on the porch.
I enjoy trying to match a sound with a creature (straight nerd 💁🏻♀️). In a rainforest/jungle region, I'm working extra to find them in the foliage. A lot of times it seems like the loud ones are the smallest. The first one I found was actually two. They landed on the ground just fussing. They were brownish, nothing unique…until one flew. Suddenly this homely bird transformed into bright yellows and reds and absolutely took my breath away.
Under those plain ol wings all the colors and uniqueness and mystery were hidden, until the bird took flight. As long as it stayed on the ground, fussing with its peer, it was loud and common. I wonder if we are kind of like that. Our true beauty is only revealed when we stop wasting time and live the life we are designed to live? Fly. Stop arguing on ground level. Soar. Find the wind and hang in it. Take in the bigger picture and be in awe of how amazing God’s creation is. Feel our smallness, yet be overwhelmed with gratitude. A lot of us haven’t even discovered our true beauty, and can’t until we are brave enough to fly away from the things that keep us grounded. The people who keep us common. The pride that keeps us arguing.
Each of us are given gifts and talents and skills. When we walk (or fly) in them, we find purpose. That’s where we blow people away with beauty. We look around and can’t even believe we get to do this, and our grateful heart just comes undone. That’s the sweet spot where Jesus will use is for His glory. That’s the wind I want to catch. I’ll keep my homely brown feathers between Him and me. We know it’s really His bright colors shining through my less than. Bye insecurity. Bye pride. Bye fear. Bye petty. Hello freedom.