My littlest one, my only girl, is turning 4 tomorrow. Today she had the opportunity to go out on a birthday date with Grandma. She surprises me daily with the things that she says and how her heart often echoes mine (down to not enjoying dairy products, preferring to eat cereal dry if at all.)
After her date with Grandma, she was playing outside for a bit and brought me in a half-decayed rosemary stem.
“Look, Mom! I brought you something that starts with ‘flowwww’. Yep, you guessed it! It’s a flower!”
I shook my head, slightly bemused, and thanked her.
She went back outside and came inside with a styrofoam tea cup.
“Oh, Mama! Isn’t it the most wonderful thing? It’s so lovely.”
I said, “Silly goose, it’s a styrofoam cup. Why did you bring me someone’s dirty cup?”
“Can’t you see, Mom? It’s all about the beauty! Flowers and tea are beautiful things that remind us to say ‘Thank You, Jesus’. It’s all about the beauty.”
And my heart sang and wept at the same time. Here my child was echoing my heart. Somehow in the months of battles through a child’s anxiety and a newly diagnosed learning disorder, I had forgotten momentarily to look for beauty in the minutiae of my days.
Thank you, Jesus, for “flowers,” for styrofoam cups, and for little girls who have eyes to see beauty.
Where’s one unexpected place you found beauty today?