What did I miss?

Our front lawn and sidewalk are covered with pink petals. Lively white blossoms were in evidence all over my mother's town -signs that there will be plenty of beach plums for harvesting come late summer -there were things in bloom I had never noticed before. I have been thinking a great deal of late about how much I have missed in the past years in all my busyness. Did I just fail to notice? Am I that forgetful? Or is something else going on? Is there something within me that is reforming me, remaking me, asking me to see the world again, as for the first time? Is it possible that God can remake these aging eyes, this aging heart?

I have always considered myself an observant person. I have thought that I was paying close attention to the subtleties in people and in the world. But, in this season, God is teaching me that in this sabbatical time (albeit time not of my own choosing) there is so much for me to learn about the world and about myself - and in those lessons to learn whole new things about God. God is in the midst of the minuscule as well as the huge. God's love is for the insignificant as well as the significant. My oldest daughter Emily suggested yesterday that we can either be happy or have an important job. I think she is teaching me also, as God is teaching me in these days, that I can focus on self-importance or on gift. I can wallow in what should have been or rejoice in what is surrounding me. I can embrace the immediate and real beauty or I can sideline it, expecting something more glamorous.

For today, I want to focus on the immediate beauty and gifts that surround me. I want to celebrate that which I have had nothing to so with creating, but which is around me and is truly a gift from God. My family, for one. Their constancy and love make my days possible. The audacious beauty of creation in this season - the soft light and brilliant colors of spring. My friends and companions on the way. I am blessed with incredibly faithful, loving and humorous people who keep me smiling and encourage me to continue on. May we all be blessed with new eyes, new hearts and the ability to notice the overlooked or assumed beauty in our lives. May today,we see the gifts around us, and rejoice, be happy in the gifts God has given us - nothing is more important than that!