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.
