Do you see it?

This Christmastide will soon be past. I know I will need to move into all the New Year will bring, but for now I’m still simply enjoying the season for what it is. Though it’s not the official festival the English celebrate, I love this week between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s the wind- down time I need. After all, I’ve been in a holiday state-of-mind since Thanksgiving! Actually it starts early October with my love for pumpkins and fall color. It’s a beautiful build-up to Thanksgiving that naturally leads into a month-long celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas. What more beautiful way to end the year?

Then again, all the seasons have a certain inspiring appeal for me and I enjoy living where they can all be experienced; the freshness and green of spring, the sultry nights of summer and its soft pastels, the invigorating chill and color of fall, and winter with its snowy days to cozy up to the fire with a good book and hazelnut coffee. I don’t know that I noticed as much when I was younger. But there were places even then that brought a “wow” feeling that I knew I didn’t want to lose or forget and hoped I’d experience again. The ocean was always like this for me. The sensations, the sounds…I could sit on the beach at dusk or early morning and know that regardless of how crazy life around me was, God was near. It still does this for me. I sensed it also on a mountain path overlook, or on the bank of a country stream hearing the water trickle over the rocks. And the differing seasons just enhanced the experiences.

As my relationship with my Creator has grown over the years, so has my appreciation for His handiwork. It awes me, everything from snow on red berry bushes to a spectacular sunset over the sound. I must admit there are still annoyances and inconveniences…like being snowed in with no power for days in the winter, mosquitoes, or high humidity in the summer that makes it difficult to breathe. But as my appreciation has grown, so has my ability to check myself if the annoyances or inconveniences try to gain the upper hand. There’s just too much beauty all around to waste it with apathy. Shortly after moving to West Virginia I would find myself admiring the mountains as they came into view as I drove down the one stretch of road between town and home. I wondered if people that lived here all their lives tired of them, or got to the point where they weren’t noticed anymore. Well, we’ve lived here sixteen years now and I haven’t tired of them. And we continue to seek out places we haven’t explored along with enjoying those familiar places we’ve come to love.

Sound like a commercial for Travel West Virginia? No, just random rambling. Blame it on the reflective and contemplative impact of the season. I embrace that, I don’t avoid it. There’s such a connection between what I choose to see in my surroundings and what I feel and think. I’ve tried to pass that on to my children, and now my grandchildren, to see the beauty and the blessings in everything. God has expressed Himself so magnificently in His Creation in both goodness and beauty.

I don’t want to miss out by not noticing.