Beauty & Being

Slowing down to notice the miracles

I’m sitting on my deck in my backyard. Blue skies stretch and roll as far as the eye can see. Beautiful jazz music plays and harmonizes with the occasional singing of the birds as they chase one another with delight. I’m surrounded by trees in almost every direction; tall and short, narrow and wide, deep purple flowers and bright green leaves mix to hide away the fact that I’m living in an urban city. It’s all beautiful and a bit surreal.

As I sit here, with a pipe in hand and a book to read, I am hit with the stunningly simple thought: this is enough.

I’m not owed anything more than this.

The tranquility. The peace. The joy. The beauty. This is the stuff of life. This moment. The single white butterfly fluttering its way innocently through the flowers. The wind blowing gently through the leaves. The reality that I get to be here to soak it all in through all my God-given senses. It’s scandalous…or at least it should be.

So often I can be stuck in the mode of consuming, learning, doing, producing, giving. But there is another mode that God created us to operate in: being. It’s a difficult mode to be in with the speed and pollution of this spinning world. But it’s the only mode in which we are set free to enjoy without pressure, pace or performance.

These small pleasures are gifts from a good God. They are echoes of another world. They are not trivial. They are monumental. They are magic. They are grace in tangible form. And we should take off our sandals on such holy ground.

Stop what you are doing and get outside. Look around. Sit for a moment - for many moments. Long enough to notice that the beauty that surrounds you is a strange wonder. That you didn’t do anything to create it — rather you just get to receive it and enjoy it. Beware of taking for granted that which is miraculous just because it looks mundane.

Practice being in the beauty.