beauty

Beauty Break

| Marie Griffith

I’m using our Monday School time to introduce a new feature on my blog called Beauty Break. It was inspired by one of my favorite authors, Karen Swallow Prior.

Beauty is to the spirit what food is to the flesh.     Frederick Buechner

Mostly we live in a routine, which is good and necessary. But routines can turn into a mindless going through the motions. If we aren’t careful, we forget to notice the beauty around us.

A Beauty Break is a spontaneous reminder to pay attention, a chance to stop and observe when something catches our eye. To look and see and wonder, then praise the Maker of beauty and the Giver of gifts.

Even a fleeting glimpse of beauty offers joy. Like when a delighted 4 year old points to a tree in the park and squeals “Look!” as a squirrel scampers to the top.

For a moment we can enjoy the intricate design of a seed, a burst of color in a sunset, a towering granite formation, or the creative expression of an artist. Maybe Beauty Breaks will help us learn to be still and pay attention.

I noticed this sweetgum ball in the middle of the trail where I walked last week because it was green and extra spiky. I picked it up and walked around the park several times as I rolled it around in my hand, switched it to the other hand, rolled it around, and switched again. I liked the way it felt in my hands, but I’ve stepped on plenty of sweetgum balls in my time and I’ve never once liked the way they felt to my bare feet. This one would have caused an extra bit of discomfort.

There are hundreds of tiny seeds inside a sweetgum ball. Scientists discovered not too long ago that the aborted seeds contain shikimic acid, which is used to make Tamiflu. No need for them to gather the pointy ornaments though. They found a way to make it in a lab.

Thousands of them will fall in the coming months wreaking havoc on small feet and annoying the meticulous yard owner.

We’ll just have to watch our steps.

 

Buttercup

| Marie Griffith

It felt like an unusually long winter. The damp chill in the air mixed with the persistent gloomy skies caused me to yearn for spring more than I have in years. After Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow, I counted the days and looked for signs of the warmer, sunnier days of spring.

One early morning work day in late February, I noticed this daffodil in full bloom. We’ve always called them buttercups. But these aren’t buttercups at all. I thought my grandmother called them by that name but she was a master gardener and would have known the difference.

However I came to know them as buttercups is uncertain but I know spring is right around the corner when I see these sunny colored blooms popping up from the earth.

A glimpse of the good to come helped me get through the rest of winter.

 

I am going to pay attention to the spring.
I am going to look around at all the flowers,
and look up at the hectic trees.
I am going to close my eyes and listen.   

 Anne Lamott

Rise/Set

This Time Tomorrow

| Marie Griffith

As a young girl, I did this thing when I looked forward to something and especially when I dreaded something. I’m unsure why, but the time passed better when I did it.

The day before the fifth grade spelling bee I said to myself, “This time tomorrow I’ll be spelling these words.”

A week before my family’s move to Chattanooga, “This time next week we’ll live in a new house.”

A few days before an oral presentation in my senior English class, “This time next week my presentation will be over.”

I still do this. All the time.

IMG_20180311_140856434_HDRBefore a job interview. Training for a race. Preparing a speech. Looking forward to a trip. Writing my book. It’s just this thing I do.

I’m doing it now.

This time tomorrow I’ve hiked five miles, set up our camp, and I’m sitting around a fire with friends and family. This will be my first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. It’s a three day, two night adventure. We’ve been preparing for weeks for the trip and I anticipate it will be everything I expect and then some.

We’ve gathered our gear, practiced the tent set up, and some of us hiked on Sunday to get the feel of carrying our loaded backpacks. The closer it gets the more excited I get.IMG_6312

The weather says we’ll be hiking and camping in snow. What beauty awaits us!

This time tomorrow……..

 

Wonders

| Marie Griffith

“Outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary, but the common mode of existence.
It is our daily bread.”        Wendell Berry

 

Elemental

Full of Grace

| Marie Griffith

This is grace.

So is this.

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And this.

It’s the beauty of a pale blue sky or a fiery orange sunrise.

It’s your feet in the sand. And a love note. And a really good hug.

It’s evident within the intricate design of nature.

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You see it in the eyes of children and hear it in the laughter of friends.

It’s the snowy white of a cotton field ready for picking. Or the blackest of nights with a million glimmering stars.

And when you catch a glimpse of a shooting star streaking across the sky you’ve experienced it.

You can smell it when breakfast is cooking and taste it in a homemade chocolate sheath cake.

You feel it when you remember a time long ago that makes you smile.

It’s every single breath you take.

We are surrounded by grace.

We just have to pay attention.

Magic

Image | | Marie Griffith

When it snows in Alabama it feels like magic.

The white stuff causes wonder and excitement like nothing else. We watch the snow as it falls and we pray that it “sticks”. Most of the time the ground is so warm around these parts that the snow melts as soon as it touches.

But sometimes……  img_1109-1

Sometimes……..

It sticks.

And it’s one of the most beautiful sights you’ve ever seen. Especially in the country. Where the cows are in the fields and the trees are big and the sheds and fences are covered with snow.

And the roads are closed because no one knows how to drive on snowy roads and we don’t have chains on our tires.

But we play in the snow because it may be the only snow we get for a few years. We build a snowman and ride garbage can lids down hills and have snowball fights.

Then we gather enough snow to make snow cream and eat it while we talk about how we hope the snow stays another day.

But it doesn’t take long for the magic to melt and we wait for it to come again.

In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge Temporary.

Look

| Marie Griffith

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“I don’t think people care about the sunsets as much as we do.”

That’s what my youngest daughter said to me last night.

I remember thinking something similar when I was a young girl. I was fascinated with whatever I saw when I looked up at the sky and I wondered why no one else talked about it. Couldn’t they see? The colors the sun painted the sky when it filtered through the clouds in the evenings. Or the bright full moon on a winter’s night. Didn’t they notice the way the clouds gathered angrily before a thunderstorm?

And the stars and rainbows and the way lightning streaked across the sky sometimes when there was no storm at all.

I hope I always look up at the sky……..in wonder……..of the One who made it all.image

But when I am walking around in the world unaware of the beauty around me I pray that it gets my attention or even better…..that someone around me says, “Look”.

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In response to the Daily Post’s Captivating.

Awe

Image | | Marie Griffith

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When I stop to take a photo it’s because something about what I’m seeing has to be captured. And most of the time it’s not just one thing. It’s the whole of it.

A shed and a greenhouse in the middle of a lush field on a hot July evening. No filters or edits needed.

The rosy sky and the emerald field. The tall grass in the foreground and the trees in the back. And the magnificent sun settling down. The beauty is overwhelming, the colors astounding……and I get to see things like this every day if I will just look.

I was walking on my country roads when I took this photo. My old country roads where I used to live. I was probably tired from a day’s work with more to do when I finished my walk. Whatever my mood when I started, I was in a better one when I was through.

Because I’m in awe. And grateful. And I pray I never get used to this.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
    night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
    they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
    their words go everywhere on earth.
The sky is like a home for the sun.
The sun comes out like a bridegroom from his bedroom.
    It rejoices like an athlete eager to run a race.
The sun rises at one end of the sky
   and follows its path to the other end.
    Nothing hides from its heat.

Psalm 19:1-6 NCV

Hot Stuff

| Marie Griffith

I’m showing my age.  My face is no longer full with youth.  Instead, it’s thinning and submitting to gravity’s pull.  The wrinkles are getting deeper and my puffy morning eyes last well into the afternoon.  I’ve found several grays in my strawberry-blond hair. 

My body is changing, too.  The daily two-mile walks I take aren’t maintaining my weight like they used to.    

But to my husband, I’m beautiful. 

I was in the front flower bed occupied with the weeds.  My hair was in a sloppy pony-tail, make-up worn off, with an old faded t-shirt and frayed shorts on.  Dressed appropriately for yard work but not for feeling beautiful. 

He pulled into the driveway, got out of his truck and said, “Hey, hot stuff!”

I beamed.

He called me hot stuff. 

I want to see what he sees all the time.   Yes, I have “I feel beautiful” days.  On the other days……I try to remember that to him……… I’m beautiful.

 
I’m beautiful to God, too. 

 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Ephesians 2:10 NLT

On the days I feel ugly and used up, when my confidence is shaken and I don’t know what to do next.  When I’m fearful and feel like my dreams won’t ever come true.  Or failed, and feel like giving up.  When I’m angry and feel the ache of life is just too much.   

I remember…….

I’m a messy work in progress……..but still, I’m His masterpiece.

 

In response to The Daily Post’s daily prompt, In the Summertime.