“We rush through our days in such stress and intensity, as if we were here to stay and the serious project of the world depended on us. We worry and grow anxious; we magnify trivia until they become important enough to control our lives. Yet all the time we have forgotten that we are but temporary sojourners on the surface of a strange planet spinning slowly in the infinite night of the cosmos.” —John O’Donohue
I know. I probably sound like an ad for a bank. Come in, open a new checking account and claim your free ice chest. 
But that’s not the kind of gifts I’m referring to. I’m talking about the continuous stream of gifts bestowed by the natural world. As I was driving home from pickleball this morning, I noticed a brilliant scarlet branch on a maple tree just blocks from my home. It literally made me gasp.
Every day, nature presents us with unbelievably beautiful gifts: stars that are billions of years old, fuzzy caterpillars crawling across our paths, hydrangeas, yellow butterflies. The gifts seem to be endless once you take time to look.
Even those who live in inner cities receive the gift each morning of the breaking dawn, signaling the possibility of a new day. As my new favorite poet, John O’Donohue says, “You never know what will land on the shoreline of tomorrow.”
So sure, material gifts like ice chests and toasters and, for that matter, new Michael Kors purses are okay. But the gifts I prefer remind me that I live in a galaxy that is one of a gazillion galaxies that has hundreds of billions of stars and enough gas and dust to make hundreds of billions more.
And because of my inseverable connection to this expanding, cosmic mystery, I have the responsibility to also create new things.
I believe that’s why all of us are here. To behold our wonderous gifts and to keep the creation going.
Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.
11 Responses
Keep the creating going…I love it! Thanks for sharing! ~ KK
Perfect timing again! Love your work!
Pam I love how you think and appreciate your sharing these magical moments with us! Brilliant reminder of how precious the gift of life is! Looking for the good, the beautiful and the magical enrich us all! I thank you and I thank the universe for you!
Yes, Pam, you are right. We are here to behold beauty.
I absolutely love the idea that we are here to “keep the creation going”! Each of us in our unique ways has something to give and share and create just like “god” or the universe or the “FP” did way back in the “beginning”, and still does today. Cool! I can’t say it enough but I really love your way of thinking and expressing these ideas Pam. Thankyou so much for your snippets of wisdom that start my day with delight 😄
inseverable connection to this expanding, cosmic mystery….I love that Pam. Thank you so much.
Lucky me, I have that ability to see all those gifts every day. I expect to see hummingbirds, a leaf with a smile on it, a manhole cover that laughs at me, the sun in the afternoon how it backlights the trees on my walk….I need to see these same gifts in the everydayness of people, not just nature. Children yes, adults not so much. I need help…
This week the birds came back to sing in the freshly green – again trees after hurricane María in Puerto Rico, and the coquís started their nightly chorus, I really missed them all: trees, birds and coquís.
Beautiful, dear Pam! And I so love the work of John O’Donohue as well. One of my favorite lines (kind of in line with this message): “I would love to live as a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” Blessings to you!!
Hi Pam, you are sooo right! we ARE surrounded with beauty, and this autumn is glowing in an uncredible way- nature gives every day everything to us and inspires us. Thank you for all your posts, they are precious to me!
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