Stunning

Today I am grateful for time with family, laughter, warmer weather, my job, the comforting tick of a clock in the morning quiet. 

Waking up in Iowa Saturday morning, it was still dark. That's not unusual for me. I'm an early riser. Dawn was approaching though, so I bundled up and headed out to greet the day. And the day greeted me back with some stunning beauty, an awesome welcome to the day. 

It was still quite cold, but a warm-up was coming, creating some low-lying fog. I walked around the farmyard and down the road a bit, taking in one of my favorite times of day in one of my favorite places. 

Pictures can't fully do justice, but here's a couple that give an idea of the breathtaking morning it was: 

I was thinking about my mom that morning, her 90th birthday. She loved to walk these same places in the early morning for nearly forty years. In ways, she was with me on this walk too. 

It was stunning to watch the sunrise unfold, the light to change, the fog to roll away. It is stunning to feel a range of emotions with clarity. Stunning to pause and breathe in peace. Such moments may be fleeting, but are also timeless. 

This quote from Harold Feinstein and A Network for Grateful Living's "Word for the Day" is a fitting close: 

Whatever is within the flowers is within us. We are a part of this universe! Whether I’m looking at a human hand or looking at the galaxies of shooting stars or the flight of a bird…something marvelous is going on and I’m part of it. We’re all part of it!

In these trying and uncertain times, it means so much to be part of a larger world that still brings daily beauty and grace for us to embrace. Onward!