You’ve heard of the ugly duckling, the ugly cry, and ugly houses.  The word itself–ugly–is, well, rather ugly.  It has a formidable list of synonyms under categories of ‘unattractive,’ ‘disagreeable,’ ‘bad,’ ‘threatening,’ and ‘cross’ ranging from the rather benign ‘plain’ to the severe ‘repulsive’ and ‘grotesque.’  This time of year is what I call ‘the ugly time.’  Most of the snow has melted; what is left of the snow piles is charcoal-colored and raggly.  The grass is flattened and gravely where the piles were made by shoveling the snow from the driveway or sidewalk.

When the snow and ice melt from the road gutter, old leaves, sand, gravel, and salt remains are plastered against the curb.

A winter’s worth of trash magically and tragically appears when the blanket of snow is pulled away by warm weather.

The fall-raked yard is littered with sticks, pinecones, and other debris that will need to be picked up before the first mowing.

The perennial beds are leaf-covered and dormant.

The view of the River and everywhere is gray, brown, muted, flattened, trashy, spent, and kind of ugly.  It’s not the severe ugly that is hard to stomach, but it is unattractive in a dormant, neglected sort of way.

In two calendar weeks, it will be Spring.  And in the midst of late Winter ugliness, the Star Magnolia already knows and displays the potential of what is to come!

And therein lies the beauty of ugliness–a whole world of potential is encompassed by the unbecoming outward appearance.  It doesn’t matter that the young, ugly duckling doesn’t look like the others–what matters is what’s going on inside.  Time and maturity unveil a beautiful swan who was that beautiful swan all along.  An hour of HGTV reveals the potential of an ugly fixer-upper house–the art of transformation.  An ugly cry face matters not when compared to the process within–the release of emotions and stress that opens the door to a change of heart.  And the ugly, gray landscape is holding a rich, astonishing, life-affirming, and incredibly beautiful world that is almost ready to be seen.  Hope and potential are budding with excitement, thanks to the first glimpse of the Star.