I have no idea what this flower is, but it is beautiful. Sitting on the shores of the Adriatic sea is the spectacular Croatian walled city of Dubrovnik. During the past summer, bush fires spread across parts of Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina, their scars can be seen streaking across the hillside.

This rather dry and crusted flower is actually a weed growing out of a brick wall at the top of a old military fort. The flower alone doesn’t hold much beauty, but in its context it is quite simply startling.

It rather reminds me of the many Christian aid or humanitarian workers scattered around the world’s back alleys. Many of them are nothing special in their natural context, but when placed in a landscape of human suffering and need, suddenly the weed becomes a beautiful flower showering the world’s poor with the beauty and delight of our God who so vehemently loves to comfort the poor.