I don’t know if this is exactly how we all envisioned starting a new school year.
As I had my boys try on their new all-black school shoes yesterday, they asked: “Why were we allowed to wear any color last year?” I replied, “Well we did a lot of things differently last year due to the pandemic.”
Immediately they responded with hope on their faces: “Oh so it’s over?”
Um, no.
Like I said, not at all how we (or at least I) planned to start this school year.
I know there are a lot of emotions in all of us right now. Excitement, anticipation, frustration, worry… you name it, someone is feeling it right now.
I know I’m feeling a mix of emotions myself.
That’s why, on this Friday morning, I took out my sketch of blinking Christmas lights and paired them with this quote by Thomas Merton: “Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things.”
So what ordinary things am I finding beautiful this Friday morning?
?My twins enormous feet. I mean those all black shoes are size 3s and they are only 6!
?My string of Christmas lights that inspired this video hanging year-long across my kitchen windows.
?My freshly trimmed trees – two years of growth and broken limbs removed just yesterday.
?My breakfast of fresh eggs from our backyard chickens who just started laying in earnest a couple weeks ago.
?Seeing colleagues filter in slowly this week as we all gear up to welcome students back soon.
?And of course, my anticipation of indulging later today in my favorite personal weekly celebration – Chip Friday.
Maybe life is not how we intended it right now. Maybe we thought we’d be in a different place or be through this challenge or that by now.
But there is always something beautiful to behold in the ordinary.
What are you finding beautiful today?
