Beauty...

I've set up camp on my back porch this afternoon. 

 And, who wouldn't? 

 The mercury reads 63*...

The busyness of my day almost kept me inside. 

 I almost missed it....the beauty.

At first glance,
everywhere I look

is Brown

and Empty

and Drab...

Maybe because I am sitting here reading this...

Reading of  another's discovery of the true meaning of this life we live-

seeing from her eyes the moment in time that it all kicked in...

that choice she made to no longer live out of her feelings

and 

began to live out of a heart of 

Grace

Thankfulness

Joy

Maybe because I am being reminded of the time when I, too, began to uncover this mystery

 JOY instead of DESPAIR...

The mystery that must be chosen daily.

Maybe because of all of this; 

a heightened re-awareness of my surroundings,

maybe because of all of this, 

instead of seeing just 

empty branches

patches of mud

piles of debris

death...

My senses are aware of something else..

Beauty

There is still GREEN out there

LIFE

and GREEN out this way 

{the Christmas tree that is faintly holding its' color doesn't count}

Leaning in closer, 

what looked dead actually has visible signs of rallying

Closer still..

Tiny pockets of new life being nurtured at each fingertip

Down there,

 beyond all of the barren limbs

the Creek ripples softly.

At first it goes unnoticed,

but in the stillness of the air

I hear it.

And it's loud.

I almost missed how loud it was...

I almost tuned it out.

Farther out there is a flock of geese honking their way through the skies.

And at all corners of the woods there are birds,

 communicating with one another.

Calling out.

There's a freshness in the air.

It's palpable.

But I almost missed it.

OUT THERE

there's still a lot of 

death 

and 

decaying

At least that is all it appears to be at first glance...

But I am ever aware that out of 

death

comes

 life.

But I must 

CHOOSE

this
LIFE

daily.

I must
CHOOSE

JOY
daily.

CHOOSE
THANKFULNESS
daily.

CHOOSE 
GRACE

daily.

HOLY JOY...

It comes from a heart of thankfulness.

It starts with seeing this life of mine 

is God's story.

Not mine.

And it ends with a new perspective on life.

CONTENTMENT

"... when I do this, give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me. This,this, makes me full. I “magnify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30 KJV), and God enters the world.

What will a life magnify? The world’s stress cracks, the grubbiness of a day, all that is wholly wrong and terribly busted? Or God?..."    Ann Voskamp

There's always beauty where we look. 

 We miss it sometimes in the busyness of life

 or in refusal.

But it's still there...waiting to be noticed.