The Middle
It seems to me that there is more color to enjoy this year as I walk around the church grounds. Of course, it could just be that it seems so after many cold, cloudy and rainy days. For whatever reason, the combination of the bright sun, the clear blue sky and the colors of the leaves seem dramatic and astounding these mornings. A gift of beauty for the receiving.
It always struck me as interesting that we find trees most beautiful in the Spring when the leaves first appear in that brilliant, bright green, and then again when the leaves are dead and close to falling to the ground in the Fall. We focus our admiration on the beginning and the end. For that long stretch of the year in the middle, we usually take the trees for granted, hardly noticing them at all.
We humans are great at celebrating births and we are great at celebrating lives at death, but we sometimes can fall into the trap of taking the middle for granted. Every day in the middle is worthy of celebration. The gift of life itself. The gift of family. The gift of friends. The gifts of the pleasure of a pet or a sunset or a good book. The chance to meet someone new and different from ourselves. The chance to learn something new and interesting. The chance to love and be loved. The chance to make a difference in someone's life.
All these things can happen any day, every day, in the middle of our lives. And each of these things are beautiful in their own way. We just have to notice.
Peace.
It always struck me as interesting that we find trees most beautiful in the Spring when the leaves first appear in that brilliant, bright green, and then again when the leaves are dead and close to falling to the ground in the Fall. We focus our admiration on the beginning and the end. For that long stretch of the year in the middle, we usually take the trees for granted, hardly noticing them at all.
We humans are great at celebrating births and we are great at celebrating lives at death, but we sometimes can fall into the trap of taking the middle for granted. Every day in the middle is worthy of celebration. The gift of life itself. The gift of family. The gift of friends. The gifts of the pleasure of a pet or a sunset or a good book. The chance to meet someone new and different from ourselves. The chance to learn something new and interesting. The chance to love and be loved. The chance to make a difference in someone's life.
All these things can happen any day, every day, in the middle of our lives. And each of these things are beautiful in their own way. We just have to notice.
Peace.
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