Ivan Panin
A half dozen gratitudes for the commonplace bits of beauty my eye has seen on a mild winter day...
1. Sunrise glowing like this, just for a few minutes...
2. Bluebirds calling and singing, as if they didn't notice the snow.
3. Soft spring-promise green shining on the meadow willow.
4. Late winter afternoon sun sparkling on a chattering creek...
5. Momentary parhelion shimmering along the mountain just before sunset...
from the guest room window.
And I almost missed it.
Almost.
6. A delicately beautiful sunset streaked with every shade of blue.
For most of these bits of beauty, the space between seeing and not seeing was moments...
a glance, and then a second glance. The briefest pause...and oh!
How many times do I miss the opportunity to see and to give thanks because I'm in too much of a hurry to notice, moving too fast to catch the glimpses of glory?
That's why I need to wander and wonder. Because if Ivan Pavin is right, and "for every beauty there is an eye to see it," I want to be that eye.