simple gifts

Lookie here at what God made. I did not bump up the saturation on this shot; these roses, this sky presented themselves just so. Shocking beauty. It waits for us everywhere if we open our eyes and see, open our lives to receive.

It's easy to get caught up in the mundane: vacuuming, weeding, scrubbing toilets, deleting junk emails, organizing silverware drawers. That was my morning. I know, I know, you're jealous of my crazy-fun life. Tomorrow I will wash windows, cook up a mess of ribs, and visit the vein doctor. What can I say? I am a lucky girl. 

A few minutes ago, I let my dog out and followed her into the yard. I did not really want to go out into the heat, but Jamie Woo is a quirky old dog and does not like to go (as in do her business) without an audience. So I stumbled out, ready to cheer, "Good Girl," as is my custom, as soon as she, well... performs, only to stumble upon a treasure, and not the kind Jamie Woo bestows, resting in the vibrant patch of grass where I'd knelt an hour earlier, weeding. I'd left an empty spot, but now this gift. A perfectly smooth, perfectly bright and jaunty blue jay's feather lightly rested in the kelly green blades of St Augustine. 

Of course, I knew it was a sign. God must have floated it down just to say hi and to hug me. He knows I appreciate feathers. What can you find today? Keep watch. Look high, look low. See what simple gifts your eyes can see.