hold it up to the light

Today I jogged in the heat of the late afternoon, this song humming in my ears as I turned the corner down the long country road. I found myself tilting my face up to admire the canopy of trees kissing overhead. I even stopped a few times just to take in the sweet beauty of the sun shining through those leaves. Gorgeous.

Had it been a cloudy day, I probably would've looked down at my feet, willing them to keep moving over the gravel. But today something so ordinary caught my attention and held it.

What else am I letting pass by without any admiration?

My days are filled with ordinary, yes. But what if I hold ordinary up to the light? What if I take the mundane and the average and the run-of-the-mill and hold it up to see the light of God's Love shining through?

The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. ~Psalm 33:5, KJV

The mud on the tile floor. Sud bubbles flying up from the sink. Playing the board game for the 100th time. Laundry piled high. Grocery store runs. A tear rolling down a cheek. The patch of wild flowers in the neighbor's yard. The table set for dinner.

When you press the unremarkable up against extraordinary grace, you then you realize there isn't much left that's ordinary at all.

A kaleidoscope is just a tube if you don't know what to do to see the bright colors and the stunning view. Same with the ordinary. Grasp it, hold it up high, and watch it catch the light. And admire the beauty because it's there. All the time.

Sometimes you just have to remember to look for it.