Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Stop: Take a moment to appreciate . . .

I must tell you that last night, I went outside, and I looked up, and there was a single firefly, or lightening bug as we called them as kids. I had just had that memory surface like an old song, and there one was, come winking to me as if it wanted to say, "We are still here, same as you." I watched it fly off and I smiled. More came, but I remembered the first most acutely.


Then I searched for Old Moon, and there, between the trees, Moon played hide and seek. I laughed, because it is hard for Moon to hide its ethereal charms. I howled at it, very low and soft, just to let it know I appreciated, that I Noticed it; that I Saw it; that I Knew it.


I appreciated the night. I appreciated the firefly coming to me. I appreciated the moon playing hide and seek. I appreciated the silence and the wind in the leaves. I appreciated GMR, my friends, my life, my family, and my son and his family. The wind and the rain. The red and the purple. The black and the white. The rough and the smooth. The sleep and the waking. The different and the same. The cool and the warm. You and me. Us and them. We and they. I appreciate.

Sometimes what may seem ulgy and rough and old and lacking in beautiful color or softness or smooth is really the most beautiful of things.

Its light is there, you've only to look.
I am awed and amazed and thankful as I appreciate.



And you?


(Photos taken by Kat at Lake Junaluska)

10 comments:

TC said...

You have the same flowers and bark in your yard I have in mine. NOT KIDDING. I mean I have an overabundance of Rose of Sharon, maybe 10-20 bushes...
lovely thoughts and photos...

T. Frohock said...

I am grateful for my family, my job, and the beautiful world around me, but most of all today, I am grateful for air conditioning. Let me sing the praises of air conditioning! ;-D

What a beautiful post, Kat, and what lovely pictures.

john bord said...

Stopping, pausing an gazing
the eye takes in
What it had passed by
The simple pleasures
Waiting to be enjoyed

Very poignant

Thanks

Stephanie Faris said...

Perception is everything. I really do believe that. One person sees an ugly tree, another sees the light shining through. You must be an optimist!

Eryl said...

Nice to stop and look and appreciate. I love a bit of gnarled bark, and that red flower: wow!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing this beauty. I was born and raised in the Midwest, but where I live now, we don't have "lightning bugs" and I miss them. They always added magic to summer evenings.

Karen said...

Kathryn, you made me smile. I love the light through the trees. Count our blessings, as an old hymn says. Thanks for the reminder.

Marguerite said...

Lovely post and photos! I am thankful that they stopped the oil leak!

Jeannette StG said...

The pink flower does it for me!
I am thankful for learning so much from my blog friends!For being able to blog, for having a computer, for ...and the list goes on and on!

Jill of All Trades said...

Wonderful...I love hibiscus flowers...