Monday morning and time for my small and wonderful things . . .
"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get."
~Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek
I love this quote. I found it somewhere on the Internet and scribbled it into my memorable Quotes book. I love memorable quotes. It is amazing to me how a few words strung together and coming from another's mind and soul can be so inspiring to my own mind . . . but that's how inspiration works isn't it? I am always picking up pennies when I find one. I cannot pass one by. Over here in the UK we have Two Penny Pieces, or tuppence as they are called. They are like big fat pennies! About the size of a North American Quarter. Whenever I handle one I hear the song "Feed The Birds" in my head. You know . . . the one from Mary Poppins.
This amazing life I am living and the ability I have to seek out and discover the joy that is to be found in each and every day. That doesn't mean I have an easy life . . . nobody has one of those, even the people you think might have everything a person could ever want in this life . . . do NOT have one of those . . . it means that I am open to receiving the joy that each day brings with a heart that is willing and seeking and teachable. It means that I am able to enjoy the simple things in life . . . because really, in life . . . it isn't so much the big things that count, as it is a string of small and simple things that matter most of all. Hence this post!
Being able to teach with the Sister Missionaries that are serving in our Ward at the present time. They are both Canadian girls! We have been privileged enough this past week to have them teach investigators in our home on two separate occasions. I love the special spirit that they bring into our home and I love having the opportunity to share with other people the joy and peace that I have found in the Gospel. It is up to them if they choose to find that joy and peace for themselves or not. It's like having a really delicious cake sitting on your table and wanting to share it with the world, and hoping that they will find it delicious too.
The snowdrops that line the base of the hedge in our back garden. They spell out "promise" to me . . . I always get so excited when I see a rainbow in the sky, because they remind me of God's promises which are sure . . . and I always get so excited when I see snowdrops because I know that when they arrive, Spring is not far behind, and at this time of year . . . we are all ready for Spring to arrive.
Glitter makes me happy, especially unexpected glitter. I often work with glitter, especially when I am doing my cards . . . and so my craft room is filled with glitter and often I carry it around with me throughout the house. That might annoy some people, but to me, it means that sometime down the road, when I need it most, a little speck of glitter will show up and make me smile. It might be on my cheek, or on the table, or on my nose. Wherever it is . . . my heart rejoices in this tiny minuscule thing that can brighten my world in an instant. It's like magic.
Curiosity. It may have killed the cat . . . but it's only ever made my life better. I am grateful that I am the type of person that is always learning and seeking to know more . . . about this world that I live in, about the people around me, about why things work the way that they do . . . about everything. I am just interested in everything and what makes it tick, be it people, places or things . . . I find it all so very fascinating and quite wonderful.
The way that everything comes from seemingly nothing of consequence . . . like how a small dark and nondescript seed when nurtured and cared for grows to become a beautiful flower . . . or how a small glob of goo in a pond becomes a tadpole and then a frog. Little speckled eggs, which are beautiful in their own right . . . are holding what will become baby birds . . . I cannot understand how anyone seeing the miracle that is creation, and which happens so very frequently cannot understand or believe in the God who makes it all happen. Why is it easier to believe in little green men . . . than it is to believe in a loving Heavenly Father?? It boggles my mind.
Colours and shapes and sizes and smells and all of the amazing little bits that make up life in general. And how very different it is for each of us and yet at the same time so very much the same. I love chips in cups that show me they are loved . . . and tins with worn paint, which tell me the same thing . . . and faces filled with wrinkles that smile and show me that this person is a person who has lived and isn't afraid to show it.
Being able to share my thoughts and heart and mind with you each day in this special way. It is such a wonderful thing to me and so amazing to me, and even if nobody ever reads it . . . I love that I can and will still do it. All my life I wanted to be a writer and an artist and blogging allows me to do that. It is amazing to me that anyone would even want to read my thoughts or look at my pictures or know the ponderings of my heart, but . . . wonder of all wonders they do and I love sharing these things with you, and even if they don't always make sense to me or to you . . . I love that they will to someone, or that some heart may be touched, and I may never ever know that it's happened, but the possibility exists, and to me that is pretty wonderful.
Being able to look at the world around me through her eyes. She is such an amazing creature, and there is not a day that goes by when I don't treasure this little vibrant presence in our lives, and all that she brings to the table which is our family. In fact . . . I think it's cuddle time.
Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . Bacon & Blue Biscuit Breakfast Sarnies. Deliciously different!
May your Monday be filled with small and wonderful things that bring you joy too.
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