Beautiful Moments

We cannot change the world, but we can adjust our view of the world; we can infuse the world with a message of hope, one person at a time. Our encounter with others can ultimately make a profound difference. The way we see things, changes things. The way we communicate with others, affects how they communicate with us. Where do we start? We start at home. We start in our communities. We just need to start somewhere.

When we smile at someone else, and they smile back, there is an exchange of hope. There is an exchange between us that says, “We share this world together, and I am glad that you are in it with me.” You make an affirmation to this other person that life is indeed good and worth sharing. It is only a smile, but it means so much more. It is an invitation to live life more fully; it is an invitation to live in community with other people, and to celebrate that community.

We ourselves help make beautiful moments happen. God has inspired within us a conduit of hope that is for all time, and all places. That glimmer of light shines always; it is a lamp lit for eternity. Wherever we go, we carry this lamp with us, and so, the seeds of hope are continuously spread.

Seeds of kindness grow in the fertile soil of love. Vines multiply and cover the land; what once seemed barren, explodes in fields of wonder. Yes, an outpouring in the labor of love changes the field. Yes, every tiny seed counts. Yes, there is no end to the work in the field and we must persevere. There are famines and droughts, harsh and unforgiving winds, to name just a few catastrophes. But, we want these fields to flourish; we want to nurture these resplendent fields with all we have to give…no matter what.

Each and every morning, God inspires us with a magnificent sunrise. He delights in beauty. It is as if He is saying to us, “Look, I made this for you. What do you think? More hints of orange needed? Perhaps, a stroke of rose in the sky is the order of the day? I love you. I want to touch your troubled heart today. I want to bring you joy…today, and every day. I am the Lord of the sunrise and the sunset, and you, are my precious child. Let us begin the day together. Let us make a perfect plan…just you and me, and the Risen Son.”

Today, is a really important word in God’s vocabulary. He does not want us to lose sight of today because we are so worried about what is going to happen tomorrow. God is already ahead of us in tomorrow and He will meet us there as promised. God is most interested in what we are doing today. He is very interested in what we are doing this very hour, this very moment. God is all about our moments; He is all about the present; He loves to make all things new, as scripture proclaims.

We are created in the image of God. We are His handiwork. And so, He is pleased when we aspire to create beauty and share it with others. There is no need for perfection; He applauds our every effort, praises our attempts, as we do our own children. Like the hand-prints our little children offered to us, or those first letters when they printed their names, He is so full of joy on our behalf.

God is thrilled with our our poetry, our paintings, our smiles, our gardens and our cupcakes. He is pleased with our creative endeavors, nodding at the newest rose bush we planted, and the happy little sunflowers that bring us cheer.

God inspires all good things; in fact, that is how we know it comes from God Himself. He created a universe of fascinating people and places. And it was His plan from the very beginning that we would enjoy beautiful moments in His creation. Why else would He have labored to create a world so incredible for us to live in? If we lived to be one hundred years old, we could only experience a fraction of this marvelous world; there are always paths untouched; there are roads that lead to places we have never seen.

We cannot change the world or fix all the problems on the planet. But, we can infuse the world with our view; we can open the windows of our minds, and breathe in the fresh, summer breezes. We can inhale the goodness our God delivers day by day. We can exhale what is not good for us, what does not feed our souls, what does not give us life.

Every morning is a gift. It arrives like a little bird that flutters within our beings. It is a blue-sky gift, wrapped by the very hands of God. This gift defies the clouds. It defies the rainstorms, the windstorms, hail storms, thunder and lightning, storms of total grief and devastation. Morning comes and this gift alights within our souls; night has past, and the light has come upon us. We know this light, and so, we greet a new day.

It is as simple and as complex as that. This gift arrives daily, an invitation to open your heart to the love our Heavenly Father extends. The morning vision is very beautiful and we want to share it with others. We open wide the windows with the wind rushing in. We shake away any sleepy notions; we will not waste this gift of life itself.

We build up the world around us, one day at a time. We share the vision we know to be true. We share our hopes, our dreams, our messy, tangled vines of love, knowing that God is right there in the midst of it all, giving us guidance, giving us strength.

This is our moment, right here today. A new day has dawned, and the vines are spreading everywhere. These vines have no end, and they circle the globe. Our God never sleeps, and always keeps watch, one beautiful moment at a time. And all we must do each and every day, is simply begin. It is our choice; it makes all the difference in the world.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”: Galatians 6:9.