(Until I typed his name, it didn't register that the quote was from a guy named FROST - ha!)
All that glitters is not gold. But it can be valuable, just the same.
Sometimes, though, that glitter is fleeting, so it should be appreciated in the moment.
One cold, cold day last week, I walked by an east-facing window and stopped in my tracks. The rising sun was creating a temporary art installation in my bathroom.
The window pane provided a natural frame for the intricate patterns created by frost crystals.
The scene was modified slightly by the window screen covering a portion of the window. More camera clicks followed.
Even though the temperature didn't get far out of the deep freeze that day, the artwork on my bathroom windows soon disappeared, a combination of furnace heat and the sun's ascension.
And it again made me think about appreciating the small things as they happen.
It's
easy to take familiar things for granted. I really try not to do that, but, reminders are always good. One of Randy's relatives posted a link
of their daughter singing, "Ordinary Miracle," on Facebook not long ago.
I had heard the song before, but until I did a little research, I
didn't remember that the song was in the movie, Charlotte's Web.
Besides listening to the Facebook link, I searched online for the lyrics. The
words again came back to me as Randy and I went out for an after-lunch drive.
As we walked to the pickup, we were serenaded by snow geese flying overhead, looking like sewing stitches in a clear blue sky.
After our sashay through the "maternity ward," we took a side trip to nearby Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. The
last time we'd driven through Quivira, there was no water at all due to extreme drought. We still haven't had much rain or snow,
so I was surprised to see a little water in the Little Salt Marsh.
That day, the sun hopscotched its way across the ice, and that seemed like a miracle, too. Shortly thereafter, I got this email devotional:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! ... When I
consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the
stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of
him, the son of man that You care for him? Psalm 8:1a, 3-4 (NIV)
A Time to Think
The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your
perception to such an extent that it changes the world you see.
—Robert
Holden, Ph.D
A Time to Act
Recognize the infinite possibilities of God’s work.
A Time to Pray
Dear Lord, when I am focused on my problems, and
most likely making mountains out of molehills, guide me to go outside,
look upwards and have faith in Your omnipotence.
I decided to use "file" photos from Kim's County Line to illustrate the lyrics of Ordinary Miracle. If you'd like to listen to the Sarah McLachlan version, it's at the bottom of this post.
Ordinary Miracle
Performed by Sarah McLachlan
Photos by Kim Fritzemeier
It's not that unusual When everything is beautiful
It's just another ordinary miracle today
The sky knows when it's time to snow
Don't need to teach a seed to grow
l.
It's just another ordinary miracle today
Life is like a gift they say Wrapped up for you everyday Open up and find a way To give some of your own
Isn't it remarkable? Like every time a rain drop falls It's just another ordinary miracle today
Birds in winter have their fling But always make it home by spring It's just another ordinary miracle today
When you wake up everyday
Please don't throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart 'Cause we're all a part
Of the ordinary miracle
Ordinary miracle
Do you want to see a miracle?
Our Rattlesnake Pasture - February 2023
It seems so exceptional That things just work out after all It's just another ordinary miracle today
Sun comes up and shines so bright And disappears again at night
Some days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.
–Emory Austin, motivational speaker
(From my email devotional from Guideposts)
The tires clickety-clacked over the small wooden bridge. I'd been over it three times already, and each time, I turned to the left as I passed. A creek meandered through a pasture, and clouds dotted a blue August sky. It registered each time, but I didn't stop the car. I thought I didn't have time to dig through my purse and unearth the camera when I had another place to be.
But, on my final trip (for now), returning from Miller Seed Farm, I decided I'd stop. I looked both directions on the rutted dirt road and didn't see anyone coming. I wasn't going to block anyone's progress in a farm truck as it rambled to get seed wheat cleaned or force anyone to wiggle by me on the narrow road.
It was an uncharacteristically cool morning for August. As I stepped on the bridge and jockeyed around, trying to figure out the best angle, I heard the creek babbling under my feet as it made its way under the bridge, doing the Limbo under the fence and gurgling its way through the green grass-fringed banks. Birds sounded their own tune, and the grasses provided the gentle drum brush accompaniment. And I remembered the words of the devotional that I'd just read the day before:
Some days there won't be a song in your heart.
Sing anyway.
When I am distracted by my agenda or by my worries or by my disappointments or the latest farm breakdown, it's easy to forget to "sing." When I feel that way, it's easier to drive right by those everyday, ordinary gifts from God and hardly even notice the miracles right outside my window.
I was in my basement office, nowhere near the sky, when Randy called me from the tractor.
"It's a beautiful sunrise," my farmer told me.
So I left my computer and drove down the road. When I saw the sky, my first thought was of the hymn, "When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries! Let Jesus Christ be praised!"
And then, when I was editing the photos later, a simple children's Sunday School song drifted in my mind: "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, to shine for him each day. In every way try to please Him, at home, at school, at play. ... I'll be a sunbeam for Him."
When those dark clouds cover up my "sunbeam," I still need to remember to shine ... and sing.
Taken as I delivered Randy to the tractor to bale. By the time I had gotten him there, the sun had almost sunk below the horizon.
12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Remember those bins of rubber balls in the end-cap display at the downtown five and dime when you were a kid? As I've looked at the sky the last few days, it seems like one of those balls has escaped from the bin and has rolled across the horizon, bouncing higher or lower as the day begins or ends.
It's been beautiful, almost like the sky is on fire. And unfortunately, the red sky at dusk and dawn has had fire as its source, according to meteorologists.
Sunrise, August 25
Recent red sunsets and sunrises will soon diminish as smoke
particulates from western-state fires in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and California are expected to disappear from the
atmosphere in Kansas this week. A cold front this past weekend carried
smoke from multiple western fires to Kansas, said Jeff Hutton, warning
coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in
Dodge City.
Sunset framed by trees, August 24
There’s been smoke in the atmosphere for the past few weeks, into even a
month, Hutton said, but it’s not always easy to see. The
air quality across the plains is fairly good, and air quality “is not
really an issue” due to the strong Kansas winds.
Sunset, August 21. I wondered if the smoke made this sunset hazy.
It's too bad that such beauty in my backyard is tied to such destruction for others.
Pastor Nate has asked us to pray for a California church camp, Hume Lake, where he spent many happy summers. This long-time church camp has been threatened by wildfire. They are not alone. Prayers for those who've lost so much in the fires - even their lives - and for the safety of the firefighters combating the blazes.
It's a reminder to celebrate the small things every day. The small things often become the big things.
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