🎧 Listen to EP130 on Podbean: https://rootedingrace.podbean.com/e/130-the-beautiful-thing-can-be-here-before-the-work-is-done/

There are weeks when the garden is not a peaceful little retreat. It is a list of things waiting for you. The weeds are still there. The borders need attention. You can see the work before you even reach the place you hoped would help you breathe.

And then, at the entrance, there are bright pink flowers.

They do not make the weeds disappear. They do not mean the work is finished, or that the garden has suddenly become easy to tend. They are simply there—beautiful in the middle of what is still unfinished.

Beauty in its time

Ecclesiastes 3 gives us words for the seasons we cannot hurry: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Then verse 11 says, “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time” (KJV).

That verse does not ask us to call every painful thing beautiful. It does not tell us to cover weariness with a cheerful sentence. The chapter makes room for the truth that life has different seasons, and that we do not see the whole of God’s work from where we stand.

Sometimes the faithful thing is to notice the small beauty that is actually here—not because it solves the hard thing, but because the hard thing does not have the power to erase it.

You do not have to wait for the finish line

I can look at the garden and tell the truth: there are weeds, and some of the borders need to become smaller so the garden can be tended. I can also look at the entrance and receive the bright pink flowers as a gift.

Both statements can be true at once.

Perhaps you are waiting to enjoy your home until everything is in order, or to feel grateful until a difficult season has passed. It makes sense to want relief. But the good thing in front of you does not have to erase the hard thing before you are allowed to receive it.

Gratitude is not pretending. It is attention—the willingness to say, “This is hard,” and also, “Thank You for this.”

One faithful response

Today, notice one beautiful thing before the work is done. It might be a flower, a patch of light, a warm cup, or a kind word. Name it. If you like, tell God, “Thank You for this.”

Then let the unfinished work remain unfinished for that moment. You can return to it in its time.

You do not need to finish everything before you receive one good thing. The flower does not make the weeds imaginary. The weeds do not make the flower less beautiful.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:11. The quotation is from the King James Version (KJV).

🎧 Listen to EP130, “The Beautiful Thing Can Be Here Before the Work Is Done,” on Podbean: https://rootedingrace.podbean.com/e/130-the-beautiful-thing-can-be-here-before-the-work-is-done/

🌿 For a quiet companion to your garden and prayer time, get the free Rooted in Grace guide: https://rootedingrace.me/rooted-in-grace-ebook