Little Daily Miracles

“What is the meaning of life? . . . a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years.  The great revelation had never come.  The great revelation perhaps never did come.  Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”  —  Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Clouds are always a miracle.

What Miracles Under the Leaves?

“What miracles are going on here under the leaves, or an inch or two under the ground!  What awakenings, what shooting of first sprouts!  What an important service dead leaves render — every plant tucked up so tenderly!”
— John Burroughs, from The Heart of Burrough’s Journals, edited by Clara Barrus, March 4, 1865

Emerging tulips

I am looking for some miracles as we go through these final weeks of winter.  Any new, emerging growth is cause for celebration — the first spikes of green, the curly brain-like leaves of rhubarb, the shock of crocus colors.

New rhubarb. (Time to finish up the frozen rhubarb from last year.)

Colorful crocuses

Shelf fungus on a stump

Spikes of tulips

Watercolor sketch of emerging tulips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Universal Lessons

Prayer wheels outside the Sakya Temple for Tibetan Buddhism, Seattle

“Pay attention, tell the truth, be kind, and find things to appreciate and enjoy every day.  Try to learn something from everyone.  Be open to wonder.”
     — Mary Pipher, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air,but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
     — Thich Nhat Hanh