Seeing the Beauty of the Whole

We were driving slowly but it was still a breath-taking surprise.  Stretching from one end of the house to the other was a vibrant mass of orange flowers.  God's masterpiece was stunning.

That morning we'd walked by those same flowers - not so beautiful then.  We were close enough to see the dead ones, the wilted ones, the ones with only half the petals - all the flaws were starkly apparent.  We could not see the beauty of the whole.

Of course, they were the same flowers - but when viewed as a whole, one could not help but marvel at their beauty.  The flaws were masked.

Perhaps the church is similar.  Sometimes we are too close to people and their flaws to notice that as a whole, we represent the precious and beautiful body of Christ.  

"for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body." (Ephesians 5:29-30, emphasis added)

So when you look at your brothers and sisters in Christ, tempted to concentrate on their faults and dead attitudes, take a step back and look.  Can you see the beauty of Christ's body altogether?