Even the humblest weed is beautiful ...

It is so amazing to me to think that even the humblest, most trashy weed can become beautiful in fall.  The goldenrod above, growing beside an old woodshed at my dad's place, is a case in point.  Here are a couple more photos of it:

I liked both of these because they show the colorful wooded area in the distance beyond the field.  I took these with my tablet and was quite surprised by how well they turned out.

And then there are the sumacs.  Recently I drove an hour north and was enjoying the still-vibrant foliage along the way.  There were trees of every color and type.  But some of the prettiest colors I saw were the humble sumacs.  You can read about them here: all about sumac.  I saw sumacs in green, orange, yellow, red-orange, and glorious brilliant red.  We think of sumac as a tree that's not good for much.  But oh, in the fall in New England, sumac comes into its own.  The photos below were taken last year, but the sumacs are even nicer this year.  And when you see, as I did this week, many sumacs all massed together, the effect is incomparable.

That God can glorify Himself through these simple weeds reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1:27, which notes that God has "chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and ... the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."  In the very same way God can also take humble people, those who may be simple and without value in the world's eyes, and transform their lives to use them to bring honor and glory to Himself.   What an incredible thought!