Gratitude
Refreshed by the wonder in the ordinary
front gate sparkles frost-feathered at sunrise night’s embellishment
Eighteen degrees F at dawn, and my front gate is decorated with frosty art: trails of feathers or fern leaves—you pick!—wherever moisture condensed on the painted wood overnight, freezing into beautifully branching crystals. How could we not love this world?
I walked two and a half miles through the high-desert grasslands where I live at dawn this morning, admiring a landscape coated in sparkling frost: frost crystals furred every blade of grass, every twisting juniper branch, every stone, every fence wire and sunflower seed head. And I came home to find the most beautifully detailed frost-art of all right on my own front gate.
Wandering can renew our sense of wonder and refresh our eyes, and thus can give us the gift of experiencing familiar delights anew. Even though we see them everyday. We forget that the common can hold as much awe and mystery as the exotic.
Searching out the sublime in the ordinary is an easily accessible way to fill our spirits and lift our hearts, especially in trying times like these.
What ordinary wonders have you witnessed lately?
Nice post, celebrating the frost art.
The last green leaves are going brown and grey. And suddenly moss is everywhere and very green! It's winter's flora, and I'm glad to find myself paying attention to it again.
Loving the wonders that the colder days bring. You bring out the extraordinary in the ordinary, Susan. Write on . . .