Mindful Monday Episode 3

“The things we see every day are the things we never see at all.” G.K. Chesterton

Why hello lovelies,

These past ten days here in my new home of WNC have been absolutely heartbreaking. Having moved from the New Orleans area I felt so sure I had seen the last of a hurricane’s unrelenting devastation.

I was wrong. So so wrong.

Hurricane Helene came through these beautiful mountains, towns and rivers with an absolute vengeance that no one was prepared for. The destruction everywhere is all encompassing and overwhelming. I am still processing a balance of unbelievable gratitude that my home and family are safe and undamaged, and then also a awareness of the heartbreaking devastation and loss all around me. I am serving as best I can while also feeling like I should be doing so much more.

All of these beautiful places that I have come to love in my new home, places that have been disastrously altered and will recover but never be quite the same. The lives that have been so tragically lost. The families who are homeless after seeing everything they own on earth be washed away. There are just no words for the extent of this kind of grief.

But throughout this week, I have been more aware than perhaps ever before of how fragile and precious our lives are, and the people, places and experiences that fill them. I see the beauty of strangers coming together in a time of desperate need, forgetting the differences of politics and religion and seeing only the humanity in each other. We are all in this together and despite the darkness that has brought this unity about it still shines with a light of resilience and hope.

I am reminded of these succinct words from Chesterton, that what we see everyday we never see at all, and I want to be sure to see everything everyday. I want to see everyone everyday as well. T treasure the most mundane moments with my husband as well as our most anticipated date nights. To be fully present in each moment, not just the ones I am looking forward to. We think because we have the people and things we love today that we will have them everyday, and that is not always true.

I want to live each day with gratitude and intention. To have a heart that takes the ordinary with the extraordinary and treasures the value of both. One of my favorite things to do in our new home is to just sit in front of the living room windows with my husband and watch the leaves slowly fall from the trees. Small moments can make such big memories.

The things we have everyday are the things we never value until we don’t have them. Lights, water, phone service, drivable roads, a warm home with your family to come back to each day. My hope and heart for anyone who finds this small corner of the internet is that you are encouraged to live slowly enough to have eyes that see everything, everyday. That is my hope for myself as well.