as though everything is a miracle

I was reminded yesterday to take a moment and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. It seems so easy to fall into the pattern of just going through the motions of living, instead of savouring every moment. Looking back over the last few days I realized that there were many, but I was forgetting to be mindful.

I love building things, the feel of a hammer driving a nail into wood is satisfying. The smell of freshly sawn wood smells like progress. Seeing something progress from just a pile of boards to a functional space gives a feeling of accomplishment. It is not ether-ware, but a hard, tangible result. A product that will last longer than the next meal ;-)

Cooking also gives a feeling of having created something, but it is usually gone faster than it took to read the recipe!

Walking on our property also gives great pleasure. Stopping to look at the wild flowers as they bud, bloom and fade. The fragrance of some make me almost swoon. We have roses in bloom in the front garden, sometimes when the wind is just right the perfume wafts all the way to the front door, luring me off the deck.

Most people don’t realize it, but the common Milkweed, sustenance to Monarch butterflies, has a fragrance to match even the sweetest rose. Another wild flower that scents the air is vetch. And one can’t forget the honey sweetness of clover. The miracle of nature is enjoyed with every footstep as I make my way around the edges of the hayfield.

The amazing thing is that flowers evolved this way to attract bees and other pollen spreaders, but by some miracle we are blessed with the senses to appreciate the splendour.

Yesterday we attended a party to celebrate a cousin’s graduation from high school. She is so grown up and accomplished, no longer a little girl. I vividly remember my graduating summer. It was a summer of working hard at boarding kennels, fun with my friends, sunshine and sailing. The last carefree summer for 30 years! At that point I had no idea of what life would bring. I’m not even sure that I really thought about it in concrete terms. I am certain though, I didn’t know that at the end of the summer I would start a job in the IT field that would bring me to where I am today.

Summer officially started at our house yesterday… the swing was marched out from the basement, and early this morning, before the dew was off the grass, I took a blanket and a pillow out so that I could have my last little bit of sleep stretched out on the swing. Bliss! Heaven! I love the swing!

 

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
― Albert Einstein

and since I couldn’t choose which one I liked best:

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.
― C.S. Lewis