Agate – God in the details

Posted on January 6, 2014 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

I love Botswana agate. It looks like this.

It looks like a topographic map, but not flat.

Here’s a necklace I made with two different kinds of agate. The small round ones are Botswana agate. The tabular ones are bamboo leaf agate.

Closer.

It doesn’t really look real. It is hard to believe that God made something so amazing. But then again, God is constantly making amazing things and we are constantly taking them for granted. Just look at a bug – any bug. It is totally mind-blowing to me that something that small is self contained and alive. Surely it needs more space to be a fully functioning being, right? We do. We humans need quite a bit of space for our bodies to have all the stuff they need to work.

But I think that is the point. We often compare things to ourselves, because it is the only reference point we have. We look at something as tiny and intricate as a piece of agate with a bunch of fabulous lines on it, and we think it can’t be natural. Surely a human made that.

We forget that we ourselves are part of creation. We are not the most creative things around. We are co-creators – but God is the One that created us. The only reason we are able to be creative is because God created us with this impulse and ability.

I used to carry around a coin that was dated exactly one hundred years before I was born. I carried it around to remind me that the world existed long before me. There were people who lived and loved and lost long before me, and will do so long after me. I carried it to give me a sense of perspective.

This is part of why I like Botswana agate. It reminds me to stop and look at tiny things, and appreciate that God is indeed in the details.

Bluets

Posted on November 10, 2013 by betsybeadhead | 1 Comment

Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite flowers. They are called bluets. I first saw them when I was on my honeymoon. We went to Grandfather Mountain, which is in the Western part of North Carolina. They are tiny little flowers – less than an inch across. They are a delicate pale sky blue, with a gold center. They bloom in May. I think of them as our special wedding flower. I feel like they bloomed just for us, to celebrate our wedding.

Here is a huge bank of them on Grandfather Mountain.

Let’s get closer, shall we?

Oh, why not get even closer?

Gosh, they are so lovely, why not get right up in them?

They are like looking at a field of stars.

I love them in part because they are not showy. They don’t call attention to themselves. You have to get right up on top of them to see them, which is perfect for my eyesight. I have come to really appreciate tiny things because that is all I can see well these days. I have to take my glasses off to see anything this close, but I see it better than I see regular things with my glasses. Bifocals are in my future.

Tiny things

Posted on September 4, 2013 by betsybeadhead | Leave a comment

I have a fascination with tiny things. I love studying the intricacies of beads, especially Botswana agate and ocean jasper. I love coming across flowers smaller than my fingernail, especially wildflowers of any sort. I love finding bugs that have amazing detail and are just as small.

Big and flashy things seem rude to me. They call attention to themselves. They overdo it. Huge baubles and immense flowers virtually yell “Look at me!” Now I can certainly respect a peony or a hydrangea, but I’ll never plant one. Oddly, I do like crepe myrtles, but perhaps part of that is they are part tree and part flower. Perhaps partly I love them because they are uniquely Southern. But when I think about it, their flowers are big bunches of tiny flowers. It isn’t one big flower getting all the attention.

I wonder if part of my love of tiny things comes from the fact that I have very bad eyesight. I see things better if they are right up in front of my nose. Perhaps part of it comes from beading, where I’d see amazing swirls and details on the sides of beads while creating a necklace. Sadly, the details were obscured once the design was created. Only I knew about the hidden beauty.

It is amazing to me to come across a tiny insect. Sometimes I’ll find a flying bug that is smaller than a quarter of my fingernail. It is intricate and perfect. It is hard to believe that it can even exist. When I find such a bug, I think God must be showing off, saying “Look what I can do!” This creature has a brain and eyes and stomach and wings all in such a small space. Tiny flowers are amazing, but tiny bugs are magic.

Perhaps it is human nature to compare everything to ourselves. It if it that tiny, it can’t possibly matter. It can’t possibly be important. But it is, and it does. And maybe there is something in that which needs to be noticed.