Relish Surprises, Even the Small Ones

Today I am grateful for quiet time outside to start my day. I am also grateful for good rest in a comfortable bed.

If you read my blog at all, the name Brother David Steindl-Rast is a name you have heard before. He is my "gratitude guru" if you will. His quote is the perfect blog header for me. "In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy."

Recently, this quote from him showed up at gratefulness.org:

"The smallest surprise, received gratefully, yields a harvest of delight." 

These two, also about surprises, are attributed to Brother David too: 

"Surprise is the seed of gratefulness. Become aware of surprises.

Relish surprises as life's gifts."

"The greatest surprise is that there is anything at all--that we are here." 

It takes a moment's mindful pause, an open mind and heart, and the surprises become evident. As I gave attention to the present, moving through my day yesterday, some surprises I relished included:

-a young coworker's hearty laugh

-tears welling up in someone's eyes after receiving a compliment

-a ground squirrel, stopped in its tracks with a nut, also surprised by me as I came around the corner

-the unique green of a small plant I noticed on a stretch of trail I don't usually run on

-how humbling it is to consider the sun and its power, then to consider myself more humbly 

-being awestruck by how my brain works, telling my body to move with ease

And right now as I sipped my morning coffee from my favorite mug . . . 

I was surprised by the memory recalled, walking in a garden and gift shop with several of my sisters, and finding this mug. It was 2 1/2 years ago and my brother-in-law Roger had recently passed away. 

The sister time together then was important and special. It always is. I think about my sisters often.

So blessed by life's little surprises. I think I will stay on the lookout for more today. 

What little surprises are you noticing?