Winter Wonder

I sat in my studio this morning and watched with wonder as the snow gently started drifting down to earth.  It looked like a thousand tiny whimsical butterflies floating down.  Snow is quite a rarity in our district, and despite the temperature of 3 degrees Celsius, I ventured outside.  The flakes brushed my cheeks with an icy caress before melting at my feet.  I chased a few flakes and managed to catch one on my fingertips where it lingered only a second longer. I felt exhilarated and alive and very grateful.  How wonderful life is when we can still find delight in the magic of a snowflake, the tingling of the cold on our faces.
It made me realise yet again how often we forget to take notice of the little things in life, how we let it pass us by.  We hardly take note of the beaming smile on a toddlers face,  the exquisite colours of twilight or the perfection of a single snowflake.  We take it all so for granted.  Yet every moment of every day we are surrounded by such beauty and such blessings. 
We do not have to travel the world to find beauty, or go to extreme lenghts in order to gaze upon the seven wonders of the world.  It can be found right now, right where you are.  I find it in the gentle breathing of my husband when I wake up in the morning.  I find it on the sleepy warmth of my little girl's cheek.  I hear it in the happy chirps of the birds outside our bedroom window, even in the middle of winter.  I delight in it when I wiggle my toes, when I feel my cat's purring next to me on the pillow.  I see it in tiny sprinkling of freckles across my older daughter's nose.  I treasure it when I hold the first cup of coffee in my hands in the morning.  The wonder in every moment.
Winter is the perfect time for reflection.  The ideal time to write down your thoughts, to start a "Thankful Journal", to count your blessings.  We are surrounded by it all day long, and I call it God's grace.  Everyday He presents us with this gift, the perfection of the little moments, we must just take the time to notice it.  Reach out and touch that snowflake before it melts away.......
If you flutter by here please feel free to share your little moments of grace with me.