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?
