Last weekend I went out to our patio and found a fun surprise sprouting and blooming in the very narrow sand lines between the bricks. Interspersed intermittently all along the bricks were these tiny, tenacious pansies. I’m not really sure where they came from, but as I pulled the weeds last night, I left these little beauties.

Part of me wanted to know as I absorbed their beauty what had given the tiny plants a toehold in such a thin slice of sand. We aren’t talking good soil, but sand. And yet it was enough for these pansies to take hold and root.

Such tenacious, unexpected pops of beauty.

Isn’t that how life goes?

We might be in a season of hardship. On my blog last week I talked about how sometimes Mother’s Day can be hard. A day that is filled with joy for so many, is equally filled with pain for others.

If I hadn’t had hard Mother’s Days, I wonder if I would appreciate this smiling darling as much as I do. Her feisty spirit is a blessing and a challenge all rolled up in one 8 year old body. She made Mother’s Day special by being born the day before it a year after an excruciating Mother’s Day post-miscarriage.

Beauty that erupted in what felt like a barren period in my life.

A beauty that has been adored and annoyed by older siblings from the moment she arrived.

Isn’t life like that?

Sometimes the beauty that erupts is sweeter because of the pain we’ve experienced. Her two older siblings brought great delight to my heart, but this one…this is the child for whom I prayed…and wept…and want to tear my hair out…and there is immense beauty in that.

I look at her and I ask God, “What do You plan to do with this one? The one who is so stubborn she survived. The one who is so stubborn, I’m amazed I haven’t ground my teeth down to bits. The one who loves whole-heartedly and extends the hand of friendship with warmth and embraces all. What do You plan to do with this natural leader who doesn’t appreciate being led?”

And I sense beauty developing in unexpected places.

Night turns to day.

Winter to spring.

And in each there is beauty…sometimes completely unexpected. But it’s there.

And it’s in those moments that I ask God to open my eyes to the beauty and wonder He’s planted all around me. Whether it’s on my patio. Or in my family.

Beauty in unexpected places.