2020 held hardship, yes; but it also held so much beauty and hope. This is what I see – more than anything – when I look back on this past year. Overwhelming beauty and hope.

I took these photographs on a particularly hard day last spring. I don’t remember now what was hard about that particular day. What I do remember is noticing that the apple trees in our front yard had transitioned from small, barely-there blooms to full-on flowers seemingly overnight. I remember walking down the stairs to our front yard, camera in hand, heart still heavy from whatever was going on that day, and feeling overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. How like God, to give me such glimpses of hope in the midst of hardship.

2020 was a hard year; a year in which I felt the surrounding darkness pressing in on me like never before; a year in which I felt an ever-present longing for heaven. And yet, there was stunning beauty and peace to be found in so many moments – just like this. There is always beauty – in each and every story. You just have to look for it.