Rain

Yesterday's rain was a nice relief after the predicted snow storm didn't materialize. It was a gray day - and quite wet - but even the dullest of days have their charm. Outside my living room windows there is the skeleton of a small tree - a beautiful Peegee hydrangea in the summer but in the winter not much more than a mass of twisted and bare branches serving as a living sculpture throughout these cold months. The rain had slowed down to a mist but the branches of that little tree were covered in big clear drops of water, looking almost as though it had been decorated with glass beads. It was fascinating to watch as every few seconds a drop would gain enough weight to fall. It was a little oasis of beauty amidst a dark and otherwise gloomy day.

I find that the smallest things - like tree branches dripping with raindrops - are often the most beautiful and yet we're apt to overlook the ordinary. Perhaps when the Bible tells us to "consider the lilies of the field" that's part of the message: "Don't overlook the ordinary because there is wonder all around you".

And sometimes it takes the background of a gray and ordinary day to set off the spectacular. But still - you have to open our eyes to see it.