First Seeing

To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.
~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn







I have probably hundreds of pictures of the full moon. Every month, I'm out on my front porch taking more. I've wondered why the full moon attracts me so. Why every time I see it, I pause to look up into the sky with a grin on my face and a gentle "Thank you" on my lips.

For me, the moon represents that whole experience of seeing something anew ~ as though it's the very first time. The moon shifts through phases, just as I do, and in each phase, it's renewed and glorious.

I set my heart on seeing each day with a newness. Every moment fresh with wonder. I know I fall quite short of that desire, yet keeping desire itself in front of me or even beside me or in my pocket, provides the basis for gratitude and seeing as though for the very first time.

When I let it happen, each day, each moment becomes the very first moment.  Each flower, each blade of grass, each cloud reminds me of the grace and beauty of all of Creation. Yet it's not only the beautiful and wonderful that brings me closer to glory. It's the messiness. The scraped knee, the cat's vomit, the lost girl. All the things that afford a different way of connecting with glory ~ that open me up to love and caring.

What keeps you aware of glory? What represents your connection to renewal? How do you keep those moments in front of you?