Framed

I sit surrounded by stunning pictures which I want to frame and hang. One was purchased on our 40^th anniversary celebration trip to Russia last September, a painting of the Church on the Spilled Blood in St Petersburg signed by the painter. 

One is a photograph of a vibrant sunset sky behind Mission Santa Barbara in California, with a bare cross silhouetted in the foreground.

Another is a peaceful photo of small yachts at rest in Morro Bay, California, with the massive rock looming behind them like the head of a giant leviathan emerging from the still waters. Both of these pictures were purchased at an art show I went to with my mother and my daughter along the beach at Santa Barbara in March.

And finally I have an envelope of beautiful pictures of our lovely granddaughter and her parents (also lovely!!), taken by a professional photographer.

All of them I want to frame, but having spent awhile online I realise that the frames are more expensive than the wonderful items I want to highlight. And yet the subjects of each painting – or the memories associated with them – are infinitely more valuable to me.

When God chose David to be the next king of Judah, he told Samuel that man sees the outer person but God looks at the heart. 

The heart is where the gold lies. As I head into a new week, I aim to look for and draw out the gold in every person I meet, and not be distracted by outer frameworks like position or status or beauty or wealth.