The Extraordinary Ordinary
I am moving again. It is, if I am counting correctly, move number twenty-six. This time, I am excited to start an adventure in an urban area. While I will still be able to easily drive to the ocean and woods where I love to walk, instead of having beech trees and turkeys outside my window, I will have pavement.
But there is a big maple tree at the other side of the parking lot and I have been told there are plans to plant the only tree on the property outside my window. I am excited!
Yesterday I took a break from the endless furniture rearranging, still unfinished, to walk over to the maple tree. There had been wind and some of the tree's helicopters seeds had already taken flight. I gathered some in my hands. Inside, I would photograph them after I finished a circle of tulip petals I had started.
During the photo session, I accidentally took a wide shot capturing the entire work area. In one corner was a crab shell I often try to incorporate, but have not found a place for yet. In the other corner sat the pile of winged seeds waiting their moment in the spotlight.
I didn't notice this shot until later, after everything was finished and cleaned up. How did I miss the extraordinary, spontaneous arrangement in the bottom corner? How did I pick up the seeds to work with without noticing how beautiful they were in the waiting? Set down just as they had been in my hand, it was more amazing than anything I could have arranged and a tribute to the beginning of the relationship between me and the tree.
It is the extraordinary beauty of the ordinary that can surprise us. It is the gentle, intimate way the Creator uses beauty to validate our very existence. Maple seeds... they are ordinary and extraordinary. My relationship with the tree... ordinary and extraordinary. My life... ordinary and extraordinary.
Today, stand back to look wider. Look in the margins and the corners. See what has been created to bless you with beauty and know that you are loved.
© Beth Adoette
Wake Up to Something Beautiful Every Morning!
Only three more days left to support my "Good Morning Circle" project and get seven months of Good Morning Circle emails. Click on the starfish to watch the circle video!
Please consider forwarding this e-mail to a friend!
Subscribe to my "Circle of Friends" to receive blogs, back stories of my contemplative art, and notifications of new prints and events in your inbox. Subscribe here.
