We were sitting in the living room when Sara said, “Mem! There’s an owl on your wall.”
And there, above the sofa, was the shadow of the small, plastic owl that sticks on my deck door to warn the birds not to fly into the glass. The sun was striking the door at just the right angle to cast a gray owl replica onto my white wall. What a happy surprise!
Small, bright and shining moments are apt to happen anywhere. The suncatcher which throws s a rainbow dancing on the floor, a bird that lights on the windowsill, cocks his head and stares into the curious home of humans, a squirrel dangling upside down by his toes to eat a sunflower seed; these are all small things but priceless. I couldn’t find them in any store and they are mine, costing nothing. And this morning, once again the world is rimmed in white, snowlight brightens the pre-dawn, a beautiful beginning to the day.
Sometimes I’m afraid that I am so busy, the world so noisy, and my mind so cluttered with the daily business of living, that I miss a lot of wonderful moments that, perhaps people a few years ago, recognized. During the time my mother was a child at Etta Bend, there were no such things as televisions, radios, telephones. Lights came from kerosene lamps because there was no electricity in that area. Things like the occasional ghost lights that glowed above an old cemetery were clearly seen against a backdrop of a dark night; the unearthly screech of a mountain lion didn’t have to compete with the noise of television, and when people visited, their concentration was not interrupted by frequent trips to the computer.
The morning sun tipping the treetops, the heaviness of clouds and the scent of coming snow, the crackle and pop of a fireplace; all of these were treasures freely given and freely received. I think these golden moments are still around us and with us. God still showers us with unexpected blessings. It is up to us to notice, to appreciate them and whisper, “Thank You”.
A blessing: May your new year be filled with owl shadows, dancing rainbows, and those unexplainable treasures that only God could arrange.
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