The Beauty of Nature, the Beauty of Relationships

About three years ago I was invited to attend a gathering in Aspen, Colorado. There were about a dozen of us and we stayed at a home in Aspen.

I still remember arriving at the home, on the side of the mountains, and going out on the deck to get a look at the view and literally gasping at the beauty before me. The golden colored aspen trees stretching out before me took my breath away. All I could do was stand there, with my hand over my mouth and gaze in awe at the gold that seemed to shimmer and glow.

Just a couple of nights ago we were treated to a beautiful sunset. I was at a meeting and someone pointed out the beauty outside our window and we took a five minute break to gawk and stare and call our friends to tell them to look to the west, and do it now!

Sometimes beauty simply takes us by surprise. I often don’t take the time to see the beauty that is around me every day.

On this day, as I write this blog, the St. Louis Park community is reeling at the , who died just weeks before his graduation. Students are wearing red today in loving remembrance of him and his life.

And Andrew’s death comes only a little over a week after assistant girls’ basketball coach Joel Koch .

For me, these tragic deaths force me to realize that the greatest beauty around me is not in the aspen leaves or in the sunset; the greatest beauty we see is in the people around us. Their beauty may not be as shockingly evident as the beauty of nature, but their inner and enduring beauty is more lasting, more worth investing a lifetime in discovering.

Take some time today to see and give thanks for all the beauty that surrounds you. You never know when that beauty may be gone.