A "Thought" on Beauty and Appreciation from Rev. Suellen Miller

Several times a month, Rev. Suellen Miller of Oklahoma City sends out a "Thought" to her "Fellow Travelers on the Spiritual Path." I especially like this one, and offer it to you for consideration:

I am looking at the (mother-in-law's tongue) plant on my desk. It has long green leaves edged in yellow. It is quite beautiful, and I am admiring its beauty.  I can see streaks of yellow not on the edges, and not-quite-uniform leaves. If it were a person, it might think of itself as flawed.

What if we looked into the mirror with the same eyes of appreciation that I'm currently using for this perfect plant? What if we recognized that those flaws that we usually see are really just differences? Instead of comparing ourselves to someone else's standards of beauty, why not compare ourselves to this plant's standard (or God's)? The plant doesn't care what we look like. It radiates back to us exactly the love we give it.
What if we take this one step farther? There are no flaws anywhere, just differences. I am blessing the differences between us. If we were all alike, would life need to exist?

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Thanks, Rev. Suellen!

Love to all,

Leta