Miracles
The sense of smell is a powerful thing capable of traversing decades to bring to the forefront memories of long ago.
Lately, here in South Florida, where December’s temperatures are reminiscent of late spring in New England, I’ve gotten a whiff of times, nearly 25 years ago, when I was a student at a small, private college far away from the place I now call home. A converted estate of one of the 20th century’s wealthiest men, the campus sat on the banks of a river and part of my yearly springtime ritual was playing hooky on the first warm spring day.
I’d take the day to sit by the water’s edge embracing the many olfactory delights: the smell of moist soil sprouting vegetation, breezes carrying the scent of budding trees and blooming flowers, and, of course, the aroma of the moving water, rich with its own blend of fragrances.
These days when I ride my bike around my town or over to the beach, I'm greeted with the scent of flowers. Last night a gentle breeze carried gardenia through my kitchen window. These scents have thrown off my internal smell-o-meter. It feels like spring to me right now and I find myself relating to springtime feelings and practices where Christmas normally resides.
Spring is a time of rebirth, of hope, and of possibilities beyond our wildest imaginations. Because I’m a little turned around with regard to seasons, I got to thinking…why can’t everyday, every season, be a time of rebirth, hope and possibility?
But how to do that? It’s simple really. Look for the smallest thing in your day and see the wonder and joy in it.
On my daily beach walks it’s common to find shells rather large in size. They’re easy to spot from a distance. Finding the smaller shells require more effort and determination.
The other day I found patches of beach covered with shell hash and within those millions of whole shells and fragments of shells I found these two; one perfect and the other perfect in its final design – a creation of another sea creature’s burrowing.
That’s the way lives are fashioned; successes going unnoticed until the accumulated whole takes shape. Just like shell hash on the beach. Or found treasures gathered together on an office desk.
So here’s my wish for you: play hooky today even if it’s only for a few moments. Take inventory of your physical surroundings, inside or out, look for and find one small thing that is stunningly beautiful. Then examine that beautiful find and see in it the miracle of how it came to be. Think, really think about its origin and what physical and spiritual forces combined to create your newly found treasure. After that, apply those principles to your own life. What circumstances conspired to bring you to where you are today, in this moment? Step back, and see how many small miracles created your life on many different levels. You’ve come this far, you can go further. You can create miracles in your life. All you have to do is stop and look for those small shells, those small successes in the midst of all the others.
From the banks of an island river to the shores of Delray Beach, Florida, here’s wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!
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Copyright 2008 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach
Photo credit: Diana Taylor: paper nautilus found on Delray Beach, Florida, shell hash found on Sanibel Island, Florida, auger shells found on Delray Beach, Florida, shell collection including coral, lion's paw, crested oyster, nutmeg, wormsnail, limpet, and crested turban. (shell identification via Florida's Living Beaches by Blair and Dawn Witherington
For cut & paste:
http://pugsnewsfromthebeach.com/2008/10/28/barnacles-and-the-art-of-holding-fast-to-our-dreams.aspx (scroll down for "hope")
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/lay-versus-lie.aspx
http://pugsnewsfromthebeach.com/2008/09/30/paper-nautilus.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Floridas-Living-Beaches-Curious-Beachcomber/dp/1561643866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=
UTF8&s=books&qid=1229967178&sr=8-1
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