The “Idea” for
“Morning-glories on the Outhouse”
comes from an experience that I had living in a third world country. For a time, my husband, three young children and I lived in a poor colonia in the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico. The colonia where we lived was a community devoid of running water and replete with haphazard shacks. The proverbial outhouse consisted of a very deep hole in the ground with scrap wood to shelter it.
Not a pretty sight!
One morning I was astonished to see morning-glories growing in resplendent wonder on a neighbor’s outhouse. It was such a wonderful surprise. Indeed. What a sight it was. It was a remarkable testimony to the fact that God can cover even the ugliest circumstances with joy; and create beauty in the most unexpected of places. I have never forgotten this image and the message that it impressed upon my heart:
Life is a wonderful adventure. And in life, as in all true adventures there can be both obstacles and glory.
But we can be sure of is this: GOD is always present in this adventure; even when we cannot see Him, casting seeds of hope and redemption. & HE desires that we should partner with Him in this endeavor. We can be the cultivators of beauty and happiness, We can encourage the downhearted. We can lighten the load. We can search for the morning-glories that grow on the outhouses of life and point them out to other people. For they really are everywhere if only we dare to open our eyes.
Old and worn
weathered & broken,
necessary but unlovely –
stands an aging outhouse
in a broken land.
New with each day –
bright & beautiful
with colors rising ,
vines twisting & grasping,
clings a sweet expression
on this old outhouse;-
Morning-glories
sown by unseen hand.
& every bewildered
& wandering heart wonders . . .
♥
Oh Morning-glories!
Why do you glory here?
Why do you pronounce beauty
upon that which is despised?
Why do you plant your marvel
upon that which is deemed ugly?
Oh Morning-glories!
Why do you
so tenaciously cling to life?
Why do you splash brilliant colors
upon the dull and splintered wood?
♥
Why do you shine upon the spaces
long forgotten by the world?
Why do you grow upon the forsaken
when all that surrounds you
has lost hope?
♥
Why grow here at all?
♥
You are an adornment!
an expression of joy & beauty.
You are an ornament!-
an announcing of life
as it should be.
Why share your beauty
with the unlovely?
Why embrace the despair
of a cold & dreary morning?
To the pondering soul
the apparent question floats, WHY?
To the unsettled heart ,
it stirs the depths of thought.
To the jaded spirit it begs an answer.
To the watchful eye;-
It rises & then it settles,-
quietly, on a sparrow
as it rests upon the entanglement;
& it rustles in the breeze
till it disturbs the peaceful vine.
where the movement
of the startled bird,
scatters seeds of brighter days!
& they fall unto the earth;
in a silent unseen hope
& while the beauty of the moment
is cloaked in mud & sludge.
it rises up again
as a seedling new discovered.
a morning-glory joy . . .
planting hope among the weary
& bringing healing to the soul.