Simple Joys Along the Way

There is delight in looking for, and finding, joy in the simple, the everyday, even the mundane.

To my great surprise, I find that when I am intent on finding these little pleasures in the everyday, I begin to find them in abundance. Each day can become a treasure hunt. And each find a surprising gift.

Here are some of the simple joys I have stumbled upon lately. I would've missed them if I wasn't looking.

Flowers that by a dictionary definition would be called weeds but when

picked by the hands of Youngest Son and Youngest Daughter, stuffed into

miscellaneous vases and salt shakers, and placed "up high" so as to be

best seen become sweet objects of art.

Laundry hanging in the summer sunshine behind a tiny,

wood-heated house down the road.

The slowly unfurling, waxy petals of the magnolia

blossoms in the backyard.

The look of awestruck wonder on the face of a child allowed to eat her entire bag of Skittles.

Who knew you could find beauty while

walking the aisles of Sam's??

Icy cold bottled water taken in refreshing gulps

in the muggy heat of summer.

Large, barely blushing dahlias just cut

from My Mom's garden.

A riotous celebration of the ability to do your hair "all by myself."

"Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father . . . "