Brown. All I could see as I surveyed the wooded area from my position on the narrow, winding trail was the color brown. It was as if death had swept through the forest, stripping it of all its vibrant color and taking down anything in its path that contained an ounce of weakness. Trees lay toppled over one another, roots exposed, while the stronger ones stood tall, seemingly lifeless without any color gracing them other than various shades of brown.

Everything around me had either tasted death, or appeared dormant. Where had the beauty of the previous season gone? Can anything beautiful be found hidden inside that which appears ugly? It wasn’t until I began to examine things closer and changed my perspective that I began to see hidden glimpses of beauty, and the hand of God, within my journey through the wilderness.

Beauty exists everywhere – even in the midst of what appears to be nothing but death and decay. Our ability to see the beauty within depends upon our relationship with the Lord, and whether we have the eyes to see, and upon the angle at which we are viewing things. Our ability to see the good in the midst of the bad is in correlation to the perspective we are using.

I’d like to examine 5 different ways to locate and see the beauty, and the good that surrounds us.

1. Go higher. There are times we need to go higher in order to see things we were unable to see before. As we climb higher in our understanding and in the things of God through the renewing of our minds, we are transformed and begin to see things according to the way God sees them – from a Heavenly perspective. It is easier to see the big picture from higher up. It’s impossible to see there’s a whole forest from a position on the ground.
2. Turn around! Sometimes we need to simply turn around and look behind us. I’m not saying go backwards as we must always press on, but sometimes there are things we missed as we walked by. There are times when we couldn’t see the beauty in the moment we were in. It looked dark, it looked like nothing good would come of it, but in hindsight, looking back, we are now able to see something we didn’t see before. We are now able to see God in the situation, that He was there the whole time, and the beauty He brought from it.
3. Go low. We must go low and humble ourselves in order to gain a view of what is higher! Pride can get in the way and cause us to miss what is above us because we fail to realize there are things higher than us – there are ways we don’t understand. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
   “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” When we exalt ourselves far above others, and far above God, there’s nowhere else to look but down on them. We must go low! We must be willing to get down in the trenches, to go down into the places that seem like a lot of work to reach, but once we get there, we’ll see beauty in the midst of the ashes; we’ll begin to see things from a perspective not many people possess. It’s only from a position of humility that we can clearly see the beauty of the One Who is above us.
4. Blockage removal. At times there are things can obstruct our view and we must find a way to get past them (or through them) in order to see what we could not see before. Offense is a large obstruction that can prevent us from seeing what is really there. How many times have we heard someone wrong and allowed offense to enter into our hearts, which in turn gave us a wrong view of the person? All of a sudden they become ugly to us, and we’re unable to see the good because all we can see standing before us is the boulder of offense. Sometimes these blockages are easier to get over than others depending on the size of offense and if you have the right perspective or not. Other times it take a lot of prayer and time spent in the presence of God in order to demolish what is standing in our way from seeing the truth. Are we willing to deal with the offense so we are able to see the beauty that lies on the other side?
5. Trail Blazing. There are times we have to be willing to go where nobody else has gone, and do what others are unwilling to do, in order to see something we’ve never seen, and to have the ultimate God experience. How far are you willing to go with God? Are you willing to give up your position in order to gain a Heavenly perspective? Are you willing to give up that offense? Are you willing to go low to help others up? Are you willing to blaze a trail that will lead the others to the Living Water, that they may drink and find life?

There are many areas and much beauty that wait to be seen, and will remain hidden unless they are examined from a different angle and from a new, heavenly perspective.