I encountered something beautiful and breathtaking. I was walking around my property in the summer, under a sapphire-blue sky. I live in a fairly arid region, and by June, things are dry, golden brown, and crunchy. Fire danger ramps up in July, and we spend the rest of the summer holding our breath. But that particular day, amidst what appeared to be dead, dry, and unattractive was something astoundingly beautiful, something I had never before witnessed. Across the field, something was glinting gold.  A closer look revealed a dragonfly perching on a dead weed. I had my camera with me, and thus, zoomed in for some photos. The glinting I had seen in the afternoon sun was coming from the veins running through its wings. They shimmered and glowed. Light was reflecting off them. Wow! The beauty was such that it made me hold my breath.

I then got to thinking how much this scenario is like our lives. Sometimes, we look around, and we don’t see the beauty. We see the weeds. Our dreams crumble into dust. Our hopes get crushed and crunched beneath passing feet. We live with fear and worry and anxiety, awaiting the firestorm that may potentially come as the days pass by. But, if we open our eyes, we will notice there is beauty surrounding us. In the tiniest details, sent directly from the hand of God, we will see the gold. He is the master weaver, taking each thread and shaping it into wings in us so that we may fly. We can perch above what looks hopeless below. And although He works with threads of gold in our lives, where He dwells, where the sapphire sky is beneath His feet, there are streets of gold.*

Hold on to hope—with Jesus in your heart and your hand in the master weaver’s hand—because someday, your belief in Him will place you atop those streets of gold. You will look around, stunned by the beauty of His glory. You will see things you never before could have imagined. Perfection will surround you. No fires of life will ever again touch you. Nothing will die, nothing will be broken, nothing will be damaged. All will be whole and complete. And you will have found the greatest treasure, treasure that surpasses even gold.

*“[A]nd they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.” Exodus 24:10 NKJV

“And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” Revelation 21:21b NKJV

©Text and photo, Francee Strain, September 26, 2019