Portrait

I sat again in the Starbucks, which was beginning to feel like my home away from home. I had come there after a day of driving across Dallas and attending hospital orientation, hoping to get a little reprieve from the drizzle outside, but mainly trying to avoid the hustle and bustle that is school traffic. When I sat down with my computer and coffee I had a plan set that I was going to start right off by watching my lecture. But as always, the little voice in the back of my mind knew I would procrastinate, so I decided not to fight it as I put my headphones in and started my music.

I searched the Web for a bit, visiting my favorite sites, not really looking for anything in particular. As I exited one of the windows, my desktop came up and I gasped...my background was hideous! I had changed it many times before, searching for that one special picture that would wow me everytime I opened my laptop. Although I hadn't found it yet, I found a new vigor and passion; I was going to find that picture.

I quickly got back on the internet, knowing exactly where I was going, a database of photographs from around the world, each beautiful in its own way. But I was looking for just one, and I would know it when I found it. I imagined a picture that would transform my desktop into a frame, or a window, looking out into a beautiful portrait of creation. I just didn't know the specifics. It could've been a moonlit night on the shores of a Mediterranean beach, with lavender waves gently crashing onto a golden shore with the majestic moon controlling the continuous ebb and flow. It could've been a winding, gravel road deep within a southern wood, the green leaves creating an earthy glow, where one could just imagine the humidity of the air sticking to one's body. Or could it have been an ancient city, ruins and more modern buildings mixed together into mosaic of lost times, red rooves and chipping plaster creating a wise, regal look?

I had no idea. All the options flooded my mind and saturated my thoughts. But, after a few minutes of searching, it was no use. I just couldn't find that portrait that stuck out so much that I would know I had to have it. And then suddenly, when I was nearly to the end of my rope, I pulled up the next page and my eyes went wide. There it was: my picture.

It was so beautiful I sat there for a moment, staring at, searching the many colors and textures that made up the landscape. It looked like the sun was just beginning to rise, barely over the horizon, not really circular, but more like a spirit shining sporadically through the clouds. It was heralding in a new day over a rolling meadow, the green and gold of grass and grains dotted the ground as far as the eye could see. Two rounded hills, almost moundish, were jutting out of the land on the horizon. The sky was dotted with white, fluffy clouds. The part of the sky that hadn't been hit by the sun's rays was a deep blue, almost purple, still looking sleepily toward the rising ball of fire. And right in the forefront, with the sun creating its silhouette, was a purple flower. Other flowers surrounded the floral stranger, but this one seemed like it was the leader, standing above the rest, straight and beautiful.

This was my dream of beauty; my dream of Heaven. There were no flaws, no blemishes, just a portrait of God's creation reflecting His glory to a fallen earth. I thought about how little we deserved God to paint us a picture like this everyday, and then I realized something. Every sunrise, every sunset; every star, every cloud; every wave, every waterfall; every flower, every tree; every animal, every human has been created by a loving, powerful, majestic, perfect God who has given us a grace so undeserved that it is unfathomable. Everything in nature points back to God and how much He is in control. As I sipped my coffee, holding back tears, I heard God whisper something in my ear...

David, he said, you are my son. And you are a portrait of perfection...

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