I'm reading a devotional book by Ann Voskamp right now, about finding joy in life. I particularly resonated with the entry today. I have been reading her stuff for a while now, and KNOW I need to be thankful for more, so that I can see life as the gift that it is. But I've struggled a bit with the HOW. How do you see the simple things around you as gifts? Her devotional entry today may have given me the puzzle piece that I need. She makes the point that expectations kill relationships. I know this to be true in my relationship with Lon, and I had not thought, before, about how true it is in my relationship with my God. When I see a flower and think to myself, 'yeah, a flower', there is no joy. When I see a flower and realize that it is a gift, that it is a miracle, and it's beauty is not to be expected, but is a surprise, each time, I have a whole different experience. I want to go to that place. I want to have eyes that don't EXPECT the joy that God has planted in my life. I want to see the world with the eyes of a child, who has no frame of reference, and for whom everything is a surprise. A ball! Surprise! It rolls! Surprise! It bounces! Surprise! Joy in simple things.
I remember after the storm, being aware that my perception of, and need for beauty had changed. I suppose that was because I had a small taste of that change in frame of reference, having temporarily lost my tendency to live a life of expectation. I was somehow unconsciously aware that those little touches of beauty were the very gifts that they are. I want to get back to that place. The place of seeing beauty, and surprises, and gifts as little spots of joy in my life. That place of not expecting anything, but realizing that EVERYTHING is a gift. That place of being a child. Of God.
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