Do You See What I See?

“Why did I never see this ornament before?”  
“Have you always had it?” my girlfriend asked during our annual Christmas get together.

“For years” I replied.  
“It was my grandmother’s, and when she passed, I took a few of the ornaments she loved for my tree.”

“Wow!  I never noticed it before, and I always come by to see your tree!”

“Why is that?”

Why is that?  The simple answer, I believe, is because we don’t look.

We see the beautiful colors of the tree and notice the ornaments quickly in the same way we discern the rain, the snow, the trees, the grass, the sun, and the moon.  

We see the terrain in front of us in a significant form.  We notice the mountains and the stars without much thought.  We notice every aspect of what we see, but do we really look?

It is so easy to see without looking.  To live without living and the be without being.  

It is in the details we get lost…

I am guilty of this practice far too often.  
I have to catch myself daily to step away from the grand picture and focus on the minute.

To see the ornaments in all their glory, with their stories, memories, hopes, and history rather than the Christmas Tree as a whole.  

I have to remind myself when I am concerned with the next big step to make sure I tie my shoes first.  

I have to remember when I see something beautiful the detail inside of that beauty.

Seasons remind us of the natural cycle of life in which all comes together in a magical display only through the tiniest of detail.  

The snowflakes blanket our lands but only under a microscope do we see their magnificence.  

The sun shines down upon us in the heat of the summer, but only when a rainbow appears after a rain shower does we see the miracle of light.

The colors of the fall take our breath away, but do we stop to smell the fall?  Hear the crackle of the leaves under our feet, and the see the color of each leave fallen?

Flowers bloom in the spring but not before the first sprout of green begins.

We are always thinking ahead...thinking what is next, where do I go, how will I get there and a billion other really useless questions that somehow garner much more attention than they deserve.

What deserves our attention is the details, the moments, the microscopic details that forge our lives.  
We are so enthralled by the “big-ness” of life that we sometimes trample over the foundations of it. 

My friend and I chatted about what we think next year will hold for us and then, after our chat we laughed about how it will be so different than what we believe because we can look at the canvas our minds eye will show us, but the details man, those pesky details are what is running the show.  

My resolution for 2019 is nothing grand at all.  
I am not vision boarding a successful business, money in the bank, friends at the dinner table, family around the hearth.  
I am not resolving to lose weight, exercise more, do more or be more.

I resolve to notice the Angel in the details.   

I resolve to see the aphids on my roses in the spring...and dowse them with dishwater..darn things love my white roses.
To see the rainbow in the raindrop shimmering off the spruce tree needles in the summer. 
To see the designs of snowflakes frozen on my window in the morning before scraping them off.  I do need to drive to work….
To hear the crackle of life under my feet when I walk.
To see the bees gathering nectar from the bushes outside my window as well as recognize the buzz of the hummingbirds rather than just noticing their beauty.

I resolve to take tiny steps on my journey.  
Hear each note the Universe plays, see each sun ray sent my way.

I resolve to BE without worry of BEING.  

I resolve to breathe more deeply because in the exhale the world becomes a better place.

I resolve to take these three pills of health daily.  Stillness, Spaciousness, and Silence.  

May 2019 be a blessing of peace to us all and may your resolutions be detailed.