Parables in the Everyday: Keeping People at a Distance or Up Close and Personal

It's definitely springtime in Florida and I can't go out without my camera because something is blooming everywhere I go. The colors are so vivid and it's just lovely here.  Sometimes right under your nose, something is blooming that you may not see until you get closer.

This is a photo of some common day lilies that are starting to bloom in our front yard.  They are perennials have been growing there for many years  with blossoms opening up each spring.  I honestly have never noticed them  much  except for the little while petals which I've seen  from a distance or from this chair.

I like to bring some of the outside inside, so for the first time ever, I snipped one of the white blossoms that was starting to open and brought it inside and put it in a crystal glass on my kitchen windowsill.  I added a geranium head from a potted plant and a yellow daisy and some baby's breath from a flower arrangement that was starting to fade that my husband had given me.

Look what happened within one day...

I had never bothered to look INSIDE the blossom before.  What gorgeous colors and how beautiful it really is on the inside!  How often it is with people we know or think we know.  We cannot see them as they really are until we get to know them.  Appearances can certainly be deceiving.   Just taking some time individually with someone can reveal so much--even those we think we are the closest to.   Some people just blend in with the scenery like these day lilies and don't expose much of themselves without some thoughtful conversation or interest being shown to them.  Who is coming to your mind as you read this?  Make a thoughtful gesture or invite someone to coffee or tea for a couple of hours.  You'll be blessed as will they, I'm  sure and you'll see each other in a different light.  :)

1Sam. 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Hebrews  13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. 

Luke 12:27 “Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these."
 

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I decided to use these photos for my Project 52 assignment this week, #11 --The Eyes of March since it relates to "seeing". [I am #25.]   It will be added to the site on Friday, Mar. 16.   To see my other photos in this 2012 photo project, click HERE.