Hidden Treasures

I have written before about seeing the world through the eyes of my child. It's an amazing thing to see the things he notices when I would simply walk by without a single glance. I was reminded of his beautiful, innocent view of the world last week and had to share.

We were outside playing on one of the 70 degrees-in-January kind of days. Despite the Spring-like weather at our house, there wasn't much going on in the way of vegetation in the backyard. Harris and I were left to sit in dead grass and weeds while we looked for birds and clouds. One of his favorite things to play outside is "pick flowers for Mommy". He gathers handfuls of grass and delivers them to me with a smile the size of Texas and honestly, those little fistfuls of dead grass can rival any expensive bouquet of roses you can find, BUT  I won't get into the sweetness of my little boy...today ;)

Anyway, as we sat doing what we do he immediately jumped up and began saying "oooooo! Mama! Mama! aslkdulnienfk! (we don't know what he's saying half the time) ooooo!" I started looking around trying to find what had gotten him so excited. I was looking for birds flying over or a hidden ball left to be discovered. I was listening for the sound of dogs barking or the kids across the street laughing. Nope. Nothing. Harris continued to look up at me laughing and pointing at some unseen treasure. I said, "Baby, you'll have to show Mommy. I can't see anything!" He ran over to a spot in the dead, dry grass and bent over. I think to myself "oh, he's just finding new grass to pick". I looked a little closer though and there was a dandelion growing in the middle of a brown patch on the ground. How he spotted it I have no clue, but he was so proud. He began picking it to deliver to his number one lady...me.

I was instantly convicted by God then and have continued to be for the last week. I realized then that I spend my days focusing on the negative, the ugly, the dead, dry grass that piles up in this fallen world. I spend sleepless nights worrying about my troubles. I seek counsel from Eliot and friends on dealing with the "horrible" things in my life. Then I see my baby look not to the ugly in the backyard, but that one beautiful flower growing in the middle of the ugly. He didn't just pass over the one flower and begin stomping on the dead grass. He didn't cry and say "it may look like a flower but I know it's still just a weed". No, my sweet angel embraced that one "flower" as the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He carried it around for about 15 minutes (which in toddler time is long in case you didn't know) playing with it and smiling all the while. 

What if we tried looking for the small blessings as much as we focus on the negative sides of our days? I was so caught up in the fact that our grass was dead that I didn't bother to look for any sign of beauty. How often do I do that just on a daily basis? I am challenged now to look for good in my day. I don't want to miss any of the blessings of beauty God puts in my path, regardless of obvious they may or may not be! I am again thankful for the little lessons I learn from God through a little boy named Harris.