Paying attention to beauty is important to me, as it reminds me that even during troubled times, God is still at work and resurrection is real.

 “Awareness of the Divine begins with wonder” - Abraham Joshua Heschel

Growing up in India, I was awestruck by the beauty of the lotus flower. And today, I live near a lake and there are lotus flowers that appear every year. In Hinduism and many other religions, the lotus flower is a symbol of divinity, life transformation and beauty. The stunning beauty of the lotus rises out of muddy, dark waters and tangled roots. The flower emerges in the morning, as the sun rises, and closes up at night. The lotus flower blooms slowly—one petal at a time. At the end of its blooming cycle, the flower dissolves back into to the muddy waters and then rises up again. Our transformations, resurrections are often composted in darkness and entanglements. And the promise is that we will rise up: beautiful, radiant and a witness to the world.

May we—much like a lotus reaching out for the light and rising above dark and muddy waters every day— bloom, even in troubled times.