The extraordinary, the amazing, the phenomenon are daily glorified in the movies, the news, and on television. Our senses become bombarded. We become addicted to drama. The only things that get our attention are the big, catastrophic, knee-jerking events.
Take a closer look at your life, your everyday world, and the people and activities in it. If it were all taken from you in one moment, what would you miss? What sights, what sounds, what smells? Would you miss the view from your kitchen window? If you were never to see that scene again, would you nostalgically reminisce about it, wishing you could see it one more time, remembering how beautiful it was, and how much that familiar sight comforted you in your daily life?
What about those toys strewn about or the baby crying because he's hungry or wet? What about the sounds of the city you live in as it comes to life each morning? Or how about how your child smells after her bath? Or when she comes in cold from playing in the snow?
What about the way your friend smiles, or that little thing he says all the time that's not funny but he thinks it is, so you laugh?
Look closely at the ordinary in your life. While you're being grateful, don't forget to express pure, sheer gratitude for how beautiful the ordinary really is. We can easily overlook the ordinary, take it for granted. The sun rises and sets, the seasons come and go, and we forget how beautiful and sensational the familiar really is.
God thank you for every detail of my ordinary, everyday world.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
That is a beautiful passage Carol. In my terms I call it "seeing life through the eyes of a child" and it takes some effort to gather in all the wonder that we are surrounded by every day and not take it for granted. It is a wonderful life. Thank you, and have a wonder-filled day all...Tim
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"We posess the eyes through which the universe gazes with wonder upon its own majesty."
I can remember sitting in treatment, in this big old house. I'd hear dogs barking and kids playing outside. I'd watch cars go by and wonder where they were going, and I would think "will my life ever be like that? Will I ever be able to go for sunday drives, eat at the table with my kids again? Will I ever have a yard with a dog and walk the beach wth him and my family? or will I leave here and die?". These were very valid thoughts for me at the time. Now I can sit and listen to those very same sounds, take my drive on a sunday, and cook a large sunday supper. I am so aware of the miracle in the little things that I used to take for granted. I never thought there would be a day where I would feel gratitude when folding cloths and sweeping the porch, but I am so very aware of what a miracle it is that I can do those things today. Hell, that I even care about them now. I do say thanks for the "ordinary" because there was a time when the "ordinary" sure wasn't what it is now. thx Carol for the reminder. Wren
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"Never argue with an idiot... They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience..."
Reminds me of the old Japanese curse "may you live in interesting times." Because when things are interesting, they are usually also stressful and not quite serene. It's when things are ordinary that you can find your serenity, rest, be at peace, and really enjoy just living.
