It is a Texas tradition to take “bluebonnet pictures” of your kids and family in the spring. This time of year, the hillsides and fields are simply breathtaking with their swaths of purpley-blue blooms, dotted with brilliant coral paintbrush wildflowers. Everywhere, you’ll see cars and minivans pulled over to the side of the road so that the families can pile out and pose for their annual shots.
We have some great photos of our kids grimacing in the hot sun, or crying at being eaten alive by fire ants, as well as the sweet, smiling ones that make me go, “awwww.” Good memories.
After several years of drought, our back pasture has suddenly exploded with bluebonnets, and I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of my silly donkey, Flash, in them. He, of course, was uncooperative and refused to smile.
I gave up trying to get him to look at the camera.
I had to laugh at the incongruity of seeing that shaggy, stubborn guy out there in those gorgeous flowers. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of his ornery countenance against the backdrop of such beauty, but the scene made me think of another incongruity. One that truly boggles my mind:
The Son of God in human flesh. Jesus, the One who created heaven and earth and who holds all things together….in a frail earthly body.
Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. I’ve tried to picture it, but I have to admit that I really cannot comprehend it. How can it be?
It’s as incongruous as His grace in the light of our sin, His love in spite of our unloveliness.
Like a donkey in bluebonnets, it is a scene of such disparity that I have to laugh in astonishment. We don’t have to understand it…we simply have to believe it. And revel in it. The omipotent and incomparable God of the universe has chosen to love us and let his Spirit reside within us!
It is joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
Rachel Anne
