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As a newer periodic blog feature, “grace notes” occasionally captures my jottings of incidental gratitude for sacramental moments in the shards of daily life. My hope is that this practice will make me (and you?) more aware of the constant flow of amazing good we are perpetually steeped in, which we are surrounded by all the time. It is here only asking to be noticed and amplified. See how all of life is poetry?

So now I am furthering my ongoing goal of appreciating such a continuous, overflowing abundance of random good. I’ve even taken photographs of some of them as shown in this post. My list continues with:

• Seeing a good friend (and fellow blog reader above) after being separated by an ocean for eight years. So glad she is back in the states.
• the first crocus blooming right next to a melting drift of snow out my front door
• ecumenical fellowship
• nubbly hand knits
• dawn glowing on the trees outside my window, which I see upon waking
• fig jam on an egg sandwich
• spring fog resting quietly
• reordering (with free postage) an exact replica of shoes that I have worn out
• the universality of the Golden Rule
• antique Steinway grand pianos in perfect condition
• God enlightening darkness
• a clean kitchen
• fuzzy pussy willow buds
• melodic celtic airs
• thought expanded to include more good
• fluorescent colors next to grays
• a great stereo system
• unjudgemental welcomes
• this incident: At our church you can park your car on the side where it is flat or in the back where there is a huge downhill sloping parking lot that we share with the museum next door. I come early with my husband who is what we call “First Reader” right now– an elective short term position conducting our service. While he gets set up and practices, I go for a walk. This particular day the weather was stunning. But when I got back to the church, my new car (with only 1200 miles on it) was gone. Why would my husband take it somewhere right before church? Oh no, could it have been stolen? I started freaking out. Then from the corner of my eye, I saw a speck of red way at the bottom of the parking lot. My car! My stick shift had slipped out of gear and my spanking new car had rolled hundreds of yards down the parking lot to be stopped by a stone wall at the bottom. (I’m not a fan of the new button style emergency break; I’d rather have the definitive lever to pull up!) On the agonizing walk far to the other end of the parking lot to check out the damage, I acutely dreaded what I was about to see. However, I also felt gratitude that the parking lot was empty, and at least I had not smushed anyone else’s car as well. But as I got closer, I saw that there were garbage cans in front of the stone wall that my car had plowed through (see the first photo below of what I saw as I approached.) I pulled the car up to assess the damage. There is a small ding on the inside of my rear wheel well, where it must have caught the garbage can. That’s it. Even though the car must have picked up a lot of momentum accelerating down the long steep hill toward the stone wall, the sturdy plastic trash cans diffused the impact, and were both strong enough and flexible enough to not be damaged either. I was so grateful! What a lovely protection. Now the flat lot next to church will be a perpetual grace note for me!
• a bowl full of grapefruit
• learning how to weld
• precision
• our younger daughter getting a fabulous summer internship
• that nothing can obscure our ability to express God
• cashew cream
• ferris wheels
• restitution
• rigorous diligence
• happy husbands
• puffy clouds in an azure sky
• poems in the morning
• celery filled with almond butter and topped with raisins
• birch bark contrasted with evergreen trees
• smooth skin
• compost piles making mulch
• grocery baskets
• receptivity
• transparent paint
• sticky tabs for books
• petting camels
• new pastels bought with merit prize money
• shadows from a dried money plant bouquet
• consciousness
• interlibrary loan
• homemade soup without a recipe
• focus on action instead of belief
• girls night out
• trills
• photos of a friend’s Scottish highlands adventure
• Scilla at the base of our cherry tree
• delicious crab cakes on a bed of creamed corn
• our older daughter enjoying a spring break trip to Italy
• our younger daughter building a wood-fired kiln over spring break (we got to visit it since my blog about it, see my photos below.)
• a waterfall after spring rains
• wind breaker weather
• teaching my sister to cook
• getting to see a favorite Van Gogh at the Cleveland Art Museum
• entertaining a right idea
• helping an elderly stranger pump gas at midnight
• Saturday morning breakfast out with friends
• FaceTime across oceans and continents
• discussing how to blog with someone who wants to heal racism
• a grandniece starting to walk
• this incident: Our younger daughter wanted an on campus apartment for next year. There were 28 groups on the list of people that wanted triples, and our daughter’s group had room draw #7 on that list. There were only 6 apartments. Because of that, it looked like she might not get an apartment at all. She really wanted one because she wants to cook for herself, and not have another year of dorm food. Fortunately, one of the six groups ahead of them elected to stay in the dorm! But what was really amazing was that the apartment that was left for them was their first choice! How does it work that being in seventh place out of six that you get your first choice? Grace making a slam dunk, that’s what!
• bullet journals
• my car through the wiggly glass of the restaurant window (see photo below that looks like an abstract painting)
• the first afternoon in spring warm enough to work outside at the picnic table with its new umbrella
• a young relative’s prudent real estate maneuver that pays off a huge student debt in one fell swoop
• my town at last light through the pizzeria window
• expectations speeding our progress
• crispy waffle fries with a friend
• finishing the first mitten I’ve ever knitted
• unexpected opportunities
• bright yellow forsythia in the large blue vase I made
• the everyday phenomena of light

What’s on your list?

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