When Stars Come Out

His (three year old) hand holding the tiny inkblot (of his infant fingers) became a living picture of time moving, of life flowing swiftly and silently through its passages.  Make the most of every day.  Time does not stand still.   I drew Bob to me and hugged him tightly, my  heart catching as that fragile flame inside seemed to ignite again.

                                 “You’re going to pop me, Mama,” he said, laughing.

– Sue Monk Kidd

After a day of dreary drizzle, a snowglobe began shaking on my world again last night. I awoke to radio news warnings of ice and accidents, and words of fear.  Then…I looked out my window and found dogwood trees dressed in gowns of white ice splendor… powder-puffs adorning their sleeves…awesome beauty there, in the storm.

     I believe God wants to hold us so tightly in His Love as to make us pop with the wonder and joy of it.

That even in the ugly or dysfunctional or mundane times of our lives… if we will purpose to look for it… we will find a moment of joy.  A spark of delight.  A gasp of awe… just waiting for us to notice.  Something to pull out and remember… like a photograph, a child’s first tiny-finger inkblot, a star against an otherwise inky sky.

And that there are so many more wonder moments planned for our lives than we really experience…because we are looking down.  Or our eyes are clouded by shadows.

It’s often easy for me to think… oh, but their life is better than mine.  They have beautiful memories…but I don’t.

Then God whispers to my heart…  see this…and this…and this?  I place seeds of loveliness, in your hands… to bloom even among the unlovely.

He invites me…and you… Won’t you ask Me to help you find the wonder in your days?

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An ordinary, rainy, gloomy-skied day…running errands…

Yesterday, walking through the nearby mall, I was on my typical mission. Look for this.  Pick up that. My focus was narrow…as it too often is.  Other shoppers brushed close by me, but I only saw their coats…  not really thinking to look in their eyes.  Briefly, I admonished myself… Don’t be so myopic.  Smile at others.  What if that moving coat you  just passed was someone you know?

Looking ahead, I noticed the figure of a teenage boy sitting on the ground beside the Christmas display still there in the center of the mall.  Maybe a worker, assigned to dismantle the decorations, I thought dismissively, not really seeing much more than his charcoal wool coat.

I passed him quickly, spotting the tiny bookstore I was looking for.

“Do you have –?”  I asked the clerk in the store.

“Sorry…we don’t carry that anymore,” she answered.

Turning around, I left, musing where else I might check.  There was the young boy again, his back to me, ski-capped head bent over something in his lap.  Curious, I slowed my steps even more, stole a swift glance down over his shoulder.

Why, he was sketching something!  I smiled, remembering how my own fingers used to fly over paper when I was his age.  Glancing upwards, I spotted the object he was looking so intently at.

A toy model of a 1930’s style truck.  One nestled in the snowy landscape of a miniature village, alongside a train running through a huge mountain of paper mache snow.  A winter wonderland of Norman Rockwell, painted wood storefronts and homes, more little cars, tiny trees.

All at once, though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could see the treasure this boy was furiously trying to capture on his art pad.  Recognized the feeling that made him sit cross-legged on the floor in the middle of a mall, oblivious to those around him, creating something fun and masterful … just because… he’d been the one to notice it.

There is wonder all around…even in this ordinary moment…

Suddenly, the beautiful song circling in the air above us broke through my thoughts like a message to my soul… Josh Groban, singing “You raise me up…”

I walked around the entire display, taking in the cleverness and creativity it took to put it together.  Reading the sign giving credit to all those who had volunteered to design it.  Enjoying the detail.

I noticed a little girl of about three walking by, gaily bumping her mom with her hips every few steps, just for the fun of it.  Her mom, laughing, pretending to scold… “Why are you bumping me my little catoola!” The child’s giggles echoing in the high-ceilinged mall… and lighting in my heart.

Seeds of loveliness blooming, right there in the ordinary, all around.

You’re going to pop me, Father, I laughed.

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© Pam Depoyan

A Fun Challenge… 

Ask the Lord to reveal a wonder moment to you that you may have missed… recently or in your past.  Maybe from a time when all you saw were clouds.   And if you feel like sharing, I’d enjoy hearing about it, too 🙂

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                   I’ve linked this post with with Bonnie at Faith Barista, answering                           “What’s your one word for 2012?”

The word is…Wonder

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Also linked with: Into the Beautiful