Barren Beauty

In the winter, the old home place at Westbend Vineyards, with its red roof, can be spotted in the distance through the barren woods while driving on Shallowford Road.

Vigilance

I continue to be amazed by moments of beauty — beautiful moments that exist even on a seemingly ordinary winter day in a seemingly ordinary small town.

Quite often, though, seeing beauty in the ordinary is not easy. Vigilance is required in order to see through the everydayness of our lives to behold the beauty that’s truly there — whether the beauty is to be found in a landscape, an individual or a concept.

Barrenness

I think I was drawn to the above scene because of the beauty of its barrenness. There is no foliage to cover the tree’s imperfections or the decaying effects of time. The grass and shrubbery around the tree are dormant and brittle. The few leaves still left on the tree are shriveled and barely hanging on.

Yet the tree stands tall in the light, as if willing to be seen for what it is.

Parable

Perhaps the barren tree is a parable of how to live life: Without pretense. Willing to stand in the light and be seen. On a path of growth, despite imperfections and the decaying effects of time. Able to bare one’s soul, despite dormant and brittle circumstances. Hanging onto truth through seasons of doubt.

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