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| Let the hunt begin |
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. The snow has finally vanished for another seven months or so (fingers crossed), the buds are sprouting and the birds are all atwitter as they sing their cheerful mating songs.
But what I love most of all is the ability to get back outside to hunt for agates, nature's little jewels of happiness.
Nothing relaxes me more than slowly meandering down a country road, eyes laser focused downward as I search, and scan and hope.
Countless times, I have passed right over some beauties, only to be discovered by someone else seconds later as they walk by. It's easy to miss them because they are not always so pretty at first glance. In fact, most are covered with a layer that is downright plain, ugly, and rusty colored.
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| One of many jars in our collection |
From a distance of five feet away, I only see the superficial and the superficial does not look anything like the inside.
True beauty lies deep beneath the surface.
People have done extensive research to determine how agates are formed and from what I can understand, it basically involves volcanic activity, lava and gas. The striations and color are all affected by a series of these types of events, creating a unique, one of a kind pattern, its own little fingerprint. And these prints can only be seen when part of the agate is chipped off or found in pieces.
True beauty is revealed through brokenness.
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| Ones with ugly outside (top left), bullseye (right), and the beautifully polished (bottom) |
The ones I love the most have many defined layers which are enhanced after they have gone through an extensive polishing process. In order to achieve that shiny luster, the agates are tumbled for weeks with different levels of grit to wear away the rough edges until all that's left is a super smooth, glass like finish.
Like a piece of charcoal under pressure to create a diamond or a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon, true beauty is born from adversity.
Above are some of my collection. You can see different types at various stages, each special because of its own qualities.
I hope you are able to find beauty all around you, even in the seemingly insignificant or mundane. Sometimes all it takes is a closer or deeper look, or simply the reminder that difficult times can produce wonderful endings.
So next time you're walking down a dirt road or even passing by landscape rock in a parking lot, look down. You just never know what you might discover.
