Yesterday I changed the wallpaper on my phone. I’ve had the same photograph of migrating monarch butterflies on it since I first bought the phone. But I decided to make a small change and picked a blue sky photograph with treetops and puffy white clouds that I made with my phone camera on a walk last week.
What a piece of
Simple Grace
that has brightened my days! It was such a little thing to do. But every time I pick up my phone and see that beautiful blue sky I feel like smiling. It’s not a spectacular or special photo, just a moment of everyday grace that I noticed on a walk in the neighborhood last week.
A miracle is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A miracle is when one plus one equals a thousand.
― The Alphabet of Grace
It was a huge reminder to me to notice the small things that bring me joy like seeing treetops against a perfect blue sky filled with puffy white clouds.
On another day last week I noticed a soft swathe of light on the pond early in the evening. So I photographed the edge of the pond in our backyard again, as I have probably done hundreds of times.
I remember when we had the river birch planted near the pond (how it has grown since then!) and notice the wildflowers that have begun to re-wild the edge of the pond, the ferns left over from a flower garden that was once shaded by a big old willow tree that has long since fallen.
It’s not a designer garden. In fact it has evolved on its own. Once a year I pull thistles and any other nasty weeds but other than that I just let it do its own thing. The plants need to survive and thrive with little care. They also need to be the kind of plants that hungry deer don’t decimate. Although I would love to do similar things with the rest of our backyard to eliminate the large expanse of water and nutrient guzzling green grass, we are simply not able to take care of that kind of landscape.
Not So Blue Skies…
As the air quality once again turned hazy yesterday and the blue of the sky was obscured I enjoyed seeing the blue sky on my phone even more. The drought and frequent poor air quality this summer are constant reminders of the climate crisis we are all experiencing. As I listen to news of other parts of our country and the world I am filled with compassion for those who are suffering and also, in contrast, with gratitude for weather we are having here.
I’ve been spending a lot of time dealing with health issues this month. And though it is not how I thought my summer would go, I am finding that focusing on what brings me joy is helping me to find moments of simple grace living a very ordinary somewhat constrained life. Making photographs of ordinary days, short neighborhood walks, Gracie curled up in my lap, reading good books, studying French, watching movies with Jon, doing physical therapy exercises, learning new things—I have so many blessings in my life. It is indeed, grace-filled.
You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
― The essential Rumi
Take some time this week to notice simple grace in your life. It’s there hiding in plain sight.
May you walk in beauty.
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