Desert Layers

The Story

One of my favorite things about painting plain air with my dad was that we were never in a hurry.

We'd spend as much time looking for the right scene as we did painting it.  On this particular morning, we drove mile after mile through the Superstition Mountains, searching for the perfect place to set up.

Eventually, we stopped at the pullout along the road to Canyon Lake, where Weaver's Needle rises in the distance.

But as I stepped out of the car, I turned around.

Across the highway was the painting I had been searching for. It wasn't Weaver's Needle that captured my attention.  It was the layers.

Sunlit grasses in the foreground, warm red desert earth, soft cream-colored mountains, and the deeper blue ridges fading into the distance.  Every layer added another piece to the story, and together they captured everything I love about the Arizona desert.

Sometimes the best view isn't the one everyone else is looking at.

Reflection

Sometimes we're so focused on what we expect to find that we miss the beauty God has placed right beside us. 

That day, I thought we were searching for a famous landmark. Instead, God gave me a lesson in seeing differently.  The view I was meant to paint wasn't the one everyone stopped to admire-it was the one waiting quietly behind me.

How often does God do the same in our lives?

He gently turns or attention toward blessings we would have overlooked if we'd kept looking only at what was ahead.

Scripture

"Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law."

-Psalm 119:18