This Ordinary Moment…

September 20, 20225 Comments

PL-1

Right now, I am sitting in the silence of this moment. In one of my favorite “just be” places. It is not my favorite hour of the evening. There is still the lingering hustle and bustle of the day–a load of laundry running, dishes waiting to be washed, son studying, hubby recuperating from surgery forcing himself to be still, and I’m trying to stop myself from ticking off in my brain all the things yet undone. Thankful that dinner for tomorrow is already prepared and we are one day closer to weekend. Right now is divine as I pause to put pen to page—fingers to keyboard—and find meaning in the mundane. The laundry. The dishes. The everyday rhythms of a household, of a life. It is all meaningful. It is all sacred. Gift and grace. So, as I survey the “yet to be done” landscape, I sigh with gratitude for the mundane, for the unremarkable, for the extraordinary sacredness of this ordinary moment.

Joy in the Small

December 3, 2021December 5, 20216 Comments

“Find Joy,” Monica C for Global heART Exchange

Hello there! I am dropping in with a quick reminder for the weekend:

Find joy in the small things.

Life isn’t meant to be grand all the time, and it isn’t wise to spend our moments seeking or waiting for the grander ones.

Participate fully in the small.

There is always joy in the small moments–the way the sun paints the sky just before evening falls, crisp fall leaves crunch-crunch-crunching beneath our feet, a child’s infectious laughter, warm hugs, holding hands while walking and talking through the woods, an unexpected visit or call from a friend, a cozy fireplace, an afternoon nap.

Each day holds many opportunities for joy. Don’t let the “ordinariness” of the opportunities cause you to miss them. In fact, look for them. Joy is certainly there.

About the Image: The “Find Joy” handmade postcard above features the work of Monica C. She was one of my “receive from” partners in the September Global heART swap. Her postcard arrived on a gloomy day, the only piece of mail in my lonely post office box. The card was made with chalk pastels, ink, and a whole lot of joy. Thank you, Monica!

The Sacred | #PocketPoem

April 29, 2021April 29, 20217 Comments

Image by Lisa Runnels from Pixabay

I’m back with a poem in my pocket!

What am I carrying? “The Sacred” by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Stephen Dunn. The poem speaks plainly and authentically about an everyday occurrence in which we (can) find a small, sacred moment of freedom.

After the teacher asked if anyone had
a sacred place
and the students fidgeted and shrank

in their chairs, the most serious of them all
said it was his car,
being in it alone, his tape deck playing

things he’d chosen, and others knew the truth
had been spoken
and began speaking about their rooms,

their hiding places, but the car kept coming up,
the car in motion,
music filling it, and sometimes one other person

who understood the bright altar of the dashboard
and how far away
a car could take him from the need

to speak, or to answer, the key
in having a key
and putting it in, and going.

Life gets so busy, so complicated, so crazy at times that I look forward to those small moments in the car alone with my thoughts, my music, my podcasts. One of my colleagues gets in her car and drives to a parking lot to get work done. I get it. That cramped space with windows “uncurtained” is the perfect hiding place from the world.

Did you share a poem on your blog today? Be sure to drop your link in the “Comments” section below.

Love, Lines, and Angles: Finding Beauty in Ordinary Places

May 1, 2017May 3, 201713 Comments

My friend Cy doesn’t consider herself a photographer; however, she has a knack for evoking strong feelings with the ordinary things she photographs with her phone camera. She always remarks that she’s learning a lot about photography from me, but I am learning so much from her.

I’ve been attempting to “train” my eye to see things differently and find art in ordinary things. So, while my camera and I have been having a wonderful time watching spring unfold, I’ve also been making a point of photographing some of the mundane things I encounter in my everyday life, things to which I usually pay little attention.

A couple of weeks ago I focused on lines. They were everywhere–in my office, in the air, on the ground, on my student’s back. Even though my camera was often mere inches away, I captured the photos below with my iPhone because usually the ordinary is most striking when I’m not expecting it and when I’m not attempting to “force” it.

I noticed the power lines on my walk down the driveway to the mailbox one afternoon. I was struck by the awe and power they represent–power to give life and to take it.

Power and Respect.

The dandelion was beneath them, hoping for some attention, before all the “wishes” blew away.

“Dande-Lines”

A sleek bike was resting in the hallway mere feet away from my (work) office. It was a gift waiting for me to return from a brief walk on campus. The lines on the floor were not to be ignored either.

“Circles, Lines, and Angles”

The table, chair, and railing lines caught my eye while I was having lunch with a friend, reminding me of all the ways we work to stay connected. The empty chair (for me) represented a friend who could not join us for lunch that day.

“Lines of Communication.”

Finally, my student’s thought-provoking tattoo. The words “reflect God’s love” are written in Arabic with the sun and rays providing the visual message. There’s an intriguing story that goes along with this tattoo, but the lines–the rays–grabbed my attention.