How often does the ordinary kill you with delight?
How often are you struck by the simple beauty surrounding you?
Are you able to see everything as grace?
I ask these questions as much for myself as for you today. Particularly because I know I fail as much as I succeed to be struck by the beauty of the endless offering of God’s grace in my daily life.
Instead, I tend to see the challenges ahead.
I tend to see the moments of frustration, confusion, grief, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and more. I concentrate solely on the solutions I need to have ready for every bump in the road.
I let adulting weigh me down.
But today, as I woke up and spent a few extra minutes making green eggs (the only way one of my twins will eat them), I thought it important to pause and ask myself these questions.
There is a big day ahead.
There are many things to do.
There are many things to worry about or to stress over… many problems to try and solve.
But there will also be so many small moments of grace if I stand eyes and heart and hands open to receive them.
I’ve already had a couple, if I’m honest.
- Grace was present in my body as I moved through my workout.
- Grace was present in my kitchen as I prepared myself and my kids for the day ahead.
- Grace was shining in the smiles that greeted me when I opened my boys’ doors and let the morning light in.
- Grace is present in my fingers as I type these words to you today.
Mary Oliver wrote:
“Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.”
Do you as well?
Every day?
What about today?
Can you open your eyes, your heart, and your hands to the graces ahead?