On Sunday, I posted John 14:27, "Peace." Because I needed to hear, absorb, focus on, and drink in that gift of calm and courage and trust.

We are moving to Colorado in ten days. Add to those days two birthdays, Father's Day, a high school graduation, a niece's wedding shower and out of town family gatherings. And packing the house. I wanted to keep up with the blogging. Sanity and time present with family take precedence.

I'll be back, not sure how long it will take, but I will return.

Enjoy your first days of summer! Look forward to seeing you on the other side...

Peace

"Peace I leave with you;
My peace I give to you;
not as the world gives,
do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
nor let it be fearful."

John 14:27

joining with www.deidrariggs.com for a quiet Sunday moment of peace

The Same Difference

Do you remember a time when you realized you were uniquely different than anyone else? A time when you knew that no matter what, no matter how close you were to someone, there would be a distance between you?

I remember a conversation with a friend. "I see red as red. What if you see red as yellow? We have no way to know if we are really seeing the same color. We each would have learned the name of the color we see as, 'red,' but how do we know they are the same?"

Another time, I watched my brother walk out of the room. I knew, clearly, at that point, that we would always see things differently, through our own eyes, our own perspectives. They could never be exactly the same, because we saw through different eyes.

Do you remember a time like that?

This story, one of my short shorts at 497 words, is about Mattie's experience with realizing her unique difference.

Click here to jump to the short story, "The Same Difference."

Important Moments

"No moment is without meaning."

This quote, shared by the minister leading up to the exchange of rings at the wedding ceremony, stuck with me. It has applications that filter through my day. Moments I take for granted, like washing the dishes or folding the laundry, have value. Their significance needs to be discovered, searched for. As I take a deeper look at the value of daily tasks, or the value of the relationships around me, the moments of my day, all day long, are not without meaning.

Take away the double negative.

"Every moment has meaning." 

At the wedding ceremony, overlooking the lake, the rocks around us, the sun soaking in to our skin, the peace and the quiet of the moment reflected the beauty of the event.

Each item on the table settings at the reception had significance. The books, the rocks, the flowers, grasses and pine cones collected locally, the game activities - all expressed a part of the couple's life together. More than just decoration, their value made a statement, "This is important."

My daily, mundane moments have significance, meaning. As I care for my family and build these relationships, I say, "You are important."

The significance of each moment is too easy to take for granted. When I am critical or complaining or ungrateful, I don't want to face the negative meaning I put on those moments. I need to look deeper and find positive meaning, value and significance by a switch of perspective. Take away the negative, turn it into a positive, and say, "You are important."

Understanding the meaning of ordinary moments, to give them value, is to say, "This is important." This moment, appreciate its significance, and dance with it.

Really See

Friday Five Minutes, by www.thegypsymama.com. Today's topic is SEE. Write, five minutes, loose and billowy and blowing in the wind. SEE where it goes.

SEE

I love to hear Ann Voskamp's voice in her video promoting the book, One Thousand Gifts. I go back and listen to it once in awhile just to hear her, to be reminded to see, really see. "To be able to be aware, awake to all that life has to offer." To see, really see, and not miss out...

It is one thing to look at something, the view across the valley, the petals on the flower, the hot pink of the wave petunias, the sunlight shining through the tomato, the hummingbird glistening in the sunshine. But to see, really see. Deeply see. That is an art.

An artist must see all the shadows, shades, color variations, blendings of shape and form and light. A writer must find the word that draws the picture with letters and sounds, giving life to a character, a scene. Both the artist and the writer take a 3-D scene or situation, turn it into a flat composition, which then recreates the 3-D scene in the viewers mind. Enables them to see, really see what they saw in their mind.

Fascinating. The art of conveying art from one mind to another, from one eye to another. It happens when one person sees - really sees. They take that vision, that eye for detail, and carry  it, transmit it to someone else. A deep form of communication. Beautiful when it happens.

This weekend, I hope you can see, really see.