Beholding

Be.

STOP.

Halt, put the brakes on. Stand stock still, on every level - physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Just exist, allowing yourself to watch, mesmorized, as moments become motionless, suspended in time. Simply hang out there in that quiet space, considering your surroundings and realizing the value of what you take for granted.

Hold.

Savor. Hold it out, turn it this way and that, and reflect on it's reflection. Ponder all the facets that gently but brilliantly shine.

Watch all that is illuminated, and allow the mundane routine daily to become incredible and amazing as it's held to the light.

Beauty everywhere

If you look with eyes adjusted to this reality.

Sometimes, beauty suddenly yet gently leaps right in front of you and gently shakes your world about and softly shouts:

Behold!

And you do, because you have no other choice. Your attention is simply commanded.

Yes. Amazing, incredible awesomeness is easily appreciated.

Like... the beautiful snow in Southeast Texas on Jan 21, 2025, christened Winter Storm Enzo.

That was jaw dropping beauty. For me, everything stopped as I took in the gift of this display of soft pristine white brilliance.

This obvious and rare beauty of snow (like, real snow) in a place it rarely comes to? Well, it got me to thinking...

And I allowed my thoughts to sweep some dirt and dust from a practice much needed but long forgotten. Beholding.

How often do I miss the more soft spoken, but no less important, beauty of every day life?

How often do I not slow down enough to behold that which crosses my path every single day?

So easy for me to let it be obscured by the flying and spinning and precarious balancing of so many daily things.

So sad, but so true, that at least some of those things don't really matter, at all.

When all the while, there is so much right before me that I take for granted, or, just completely ignore, because I'm so focused on

My flight through my day doing my things.

Almost like I have blinders on to everything but what I want to get done during my allotted time each day. Like I'm in a race, all alone, racing against myself.

By prioritizing the execution of my all important plans over the amazing experiences God chooses to allow me to participate in every day, I miss so much. Oh, so much.

I would love to take on the exuberance of a little child who is enthralled with the simplest things. A box. A leaf. A blade of grass. A wildflower. A sound. Music, real or imagined. A book. Legos. A puzzle. A simple toy. Giggling at the dog. Giggling at nothing. Playing with abandon; crazy and silly and fully engaged and delighted with such little things.

Hard to tell, but that's me with a leaf. :)

Oh, to see through the eyes of a child!

But of course, children and babies don't have all the distractions of stress, and deadlines, and worries, and fears... that create a resounding cacophony clamoring for attention, taking and taking away from simple pleasures.

But... we adults have something children and babies don't have: an understanding of how the way we prioritize our whole lives - our actions, our activities, our thoughts, our interactions, our perceptions and perspectives - this affects everything about... everything.

So... it's pretty much vital that we make choices that add margin to our daily lives to intentionally raise our awareness of all the treasures we have access to fully experience every day.

But I know I don't do this nearly enough.

So, God gives me reminders, like a history-making beautiful snowfall, to help me reset and regroup and remember what I should be about.

And I'm grateful, but I want to take this to another level and allow it to shift how I live. I want to regularly experience moments of awe and appreciation of the good gifts God gives because I choose to set aside the time to Behold. I want to be one who prioritizes

Beholding.