Month: January 2023

Unexpected Beauty

/ inkspeare

Sometimes, beauty takes you by surprise and makes you gasp and smile. I took the first two pictures this morning: something unexpected but delightful.

The sun had come up and it illuminated this tree at a perfect angle because it looked as if the raindrops were dangling and glistening like tinsel. A magical sight from my favorite chair. I had to run and grab the camera before it was over. This oak tree is on my closest neighbor’s property. It keeps its dry leaves until the spring. What a lovely sight.
This is just the reflection of a drop of water that is on the outer side of the window glass. As I was going down the stairs, I noticed what I thought were shards of glass on the window. As I got closer and attempted to grab them, I realized it was just a reflection. I thought these were beautiful to look at, and I had never noticed them before. I went downstairs quickly and grabbed the camera once more. What a treat. I know, the window needs cleaning on the outside, but it is winter.
I took this picture the other day. The garden has gone to sleep, and we have had temperatures on and off in the 20s at night and even hit 6 degrees one time, but this plant refuses to go to sleep and keeps flowering. It is the only one in the garden that is still offering its colorful beauty, that is, besides the forsythia plant next door that always blooms in December. A lovely sight.
Every winter, I look forward to seeing this Forsythia bloom in December. So far, this plant seems to prefer winter blooms and not blooming in the spring. For the past four years, I have noticed her early blooms and enjoy it.

Hope you enjoy these pictures.

A New Outlook Must Follow Leaving Behind

/ inkspeare
Photo by M.A.D.

As a new year starts, a time for reflection continues, and new beginnings, new goals emerge. New plans are taken into consideration, and a new array of possibilities. For many of us the start of a new year represents a new slate, an exciting journey. We plan, we dream, we ponder, reconsider, and evaluate. We measure ourselves throughout the year left behind. Sometimes, we chastise our self, and other times, we are very pleased with our performance. It is also a time to reflect and leave behind that which does not fit us anymore – the old self that we have been carrying around for years for whatever reason, sometimes, even unaware of its presence. The shadow that once was but remains in our subconscious.

The old self manifests in old habits that don’t serve us anymore, dislikes that we force ourselves to like because we once did, old hobbies that we do not seem to enjoy anymore but think we do, objects that are meaningless to us but we keep, and even beliefs and frame of thought that does not serve us and that we have outgrown by time and experience but seem to have lingered in our lives and mind. Whatever it may be, material or unmaterial, it is better to leave it behind, and make room for new experiences. Sometimes Old Self is heavy and tiresome, even adding mental and emotional weight and clutter that we certainly do not need if we want to live a good life.

As I have pondered and evaluated over the past few weeks, I have found many things that are just not fit for me anymore, material and not, even just present in my life by habit through the years, but not serving the person I am today.

Your life, your space, your mind, should reflect the person you are, not the one you were or even the one you aspired to be once but are not. Life is ever changing, evolving, and sometimes, it turns out better than what we planned for that Old Self. Other times, we might feel that we have not measured up to our expectations, and regret might set in. When that happens, I am reminded and uplifted by this beautiful scripture. It is not critical, judgmental, or demanding. It is simple, sweet, and full of hope and possibilities.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Mathew 5:16