Thought 1

It was six-forty two in the morning. Per usual, I was journaling prayer and reflections in my notebook. I had already bathed, made a steaming cup of fresh pour-over Ethiopian coffee, and tidied my room for the day ahead. I had even sat with Annie Dillard’s text on Seeing, and reveled in the beauty of her passion for seeing the majesty in the routine of life. I wondered how long it would take me to begin seeing as she did. I also wondered how long it would take to even develop a hunger in the first place, which I assumed would need to develop over the course of much rehearsal, patience, and frustration. My roommate, who stayed up late, was still asleep. Thus the whole room was still and silent. All except for my plant. Yes, I have a plant; in fact, I have many plants, and they are all alive and well. This one, in particular, was inviting me into its realness. For though my eyes gaze at it daily, as it lives next to the door to my room, I had never noticed that one beautiful leaf had been formed by the hand of God in the shape of a heart. It was simply dazzling me with the glory of its brightness. Among all of the other leaves, this one was singing with a song that seemed to say, “Come, let’s play together, let’s revel in the whimsy of the light outside and the fresh dirt, and let’s feast together on the sweetness of life.” And I said, “yes,” and for a brief second, I was in a separate world with this green heart, making my way to neverland side by side with it, and sharing my deepest secrets with it. It felt like a dear friend, someone who would keep the secrets and celebrate my imperfections. At this moment I began to wonder if, perhaps, it would not take so long to recapture the beauty and whimsy in the routine of everyday life; and that in many ways, the mundane is what makes up the whimsy in life, instead of the obviously extravagant. Thus, I sit, less than ten hours away from that kind moment, and say to the dear reader of this short reflection that it is indeed possible to recapture the whimsy in the world and that it is ever worth it, though short in time it may be.