I pass by this house each morning after dropping off Ezra at school. I think it’s a nice looking house. And this VW bug sits in the driveway, sometimes with a cover over it, sometimes not. And recently Halloween decor has been added. And as the sun rises later and later in the day, the light and shadows on top of it all has given it quite a nifty vibe. Some of the girls in my home would say this house is “so aesthetic.”
I’d agree, I suppose. Enough to pull over this morning and snap a few photos of it at least.
I love the outdoors and natural beauty, but I also love the simple beauty of a unique home in the autumn morning light. Let the small beautiful things bring us peace so we can handle the turbulence of our lives, the knowledge of violence and unrest and bloodshed tearing apart the fabric of society in places like Israel and Palestine and Ukraine and Russia.
I’ve seen so many photos of completely wrecked houses, apartments, office buildings, schools, hospitals.
What an odd thing to find beauty in an old VW Beetle and peace in shadows falling nicely upon a well-manicured lawn and on the white brick of a lovely home in a west Omaha neighborhood. What an especially odd thing while so many people are dying thousands of miles away due to hundreds upon hundreds of years of unrest on these patches of blood-stained lands.
This morning I drove past lawns decorated with plastic gravestones and fifteen foot skeletons and I saw playful ghosts and bones hanging from trees. I also saw photos today of the dead bodies of children laying face up in the streets of Israel, and videos of mothers wailing the deep soul wails that only can exist after witnessing your own child’s lifeless body.
What are we supposed to do with these dramatically different experiences? If you’re feeling conflicted and/or overwhelmed by the responsibility of holding both the beauty and the bloodshed in our consciousness, that just means that you have your antenna up. You’re paying attention. It’s heavy stuff. But let it all bring perspective to how we live out our daily lives.
Keep the small things small. Find the beauty that surrounds us. Tell people about it. Be kind to everyone you interact with, even the ones that are rude to you. Remember your place in this big world of ours and make it your goal to add to it rather than take away from it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love yourself. Love your enemy while you’re at it. Peace is the only way we will progress.
Stepping Back 