Beauty in unexpected places

Yesterday it snowed most of the day in our neck of the woods. For those who don't know me, I live in the mountains, in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Anyway, I happened to go to the store last night around 5:30 PM. It was getting dark. The snow clouds; in fact, the snowline, was just to the East of the store, so it wasn't snowing directly on us but it was about a quarter mile away, so the clouds were still above us. But to the west...to the west is Red Hill, and the sun had gone down behind it, still kind of glowing under the lid of clouds. In between the hill and the cloud was the thinnest fingernail moon, silver and shining in quiet glory.

Pretty darn cool. Snow behind me, silver moon going down in front of me. I'm standing there appreciating this in what feels like 0 degree weather, since the wind is blowing like crazy and chilling me to the bone. A sane person would have gone inside. Or maybe the sane person would have done exactly what I did, which was stand there in the middle of the parking lot and marvel that God places such beauty before us, to either appreciate or disregard as we will.

This morning I had to drive to work at 6 AM. The roads were snowpacked and icy, requiring my attention. And as the sky lightened, I was treated to snowy trees, snowy mountains, and snow drifting lazily out of the sky. The view outside my work window was of the ski mountain, draped in the foot of snow that has fallen in the last day or two. The aspen trees were as pretty as any Ansel Adams picture I've seen. Wish I could pull my memory of the gorgeous day dawning, like they do with the Pensieve. Hopefully this blog will suffice.

Beauty is all around us, all the time. Whether we choose to appreciate it or just go about our busy day is up to us. Sure, I could have grumbled about shoveling my friend's rather large driveway. Instead I took the opportunity to listen to quiet Christmas music, be alone with my thoughts, and reflect on the meaning of the season.

Thank you, God, for giving me a grateful heart.