For several weeks now I've....

been admiring flowers along the Atlantic City Expressway(ACE). I've driven the ACE to and from church several times a week, and to and from camp four times(so far this summer). Along the center of the ACE are beautiful Cosmos flowers. The mix of the color is perfect.



I could easily get into an accident looking at the flowers instead of driving. A couple of weeks ago I decided I'd figure out how to take pictures of these flowers. I knew I'd be taking my life in my own hands...but trust me they were worth it.

Yesterday I stopped to smell the flowers...so to speak. Cosmos don't have a fragrant scent, but boy are they beautiful.

I haven't always been an adoring admirer of flowers. I've looked, seen, and thought "pretty". As of late I see flowers with a whole new perspective. I love simple flowers. Cosmos, Zinnias, Brown Eyed Susan's, Daisy's, Hostas, and Day Lily's are just a few of my favorites.

Why have flowers become such a distraction to me? They remind me of Matthew 5 & 6 The Beatitude chapter is so rich and convicting. I also Matt 6:25-31 a great reminder of who is in control:
[25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31"Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?' or "What shall we drink?' or "What shall we wear?' 32For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.]

I am easily a worrier. Much of the time about things in the future like having to raise my children alone, or having a job to retire from, or finances (there never seems to be enough to lay by and store). To see a flower and know that it goes through many cycles of life and death or dormancy in and out of years, and that God created them, calms me.

Things may get what I consider difficult in life. But like a flower that blooms and loses its petals then appears to die only to come to life again, often with more beauty than before, I too have the same opportunity because I am a child of The King.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from my moments with the Cosmos.


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