THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE

When my daughter was about two, I remember so vividly handing her a dandelion that had gone to seed. She held it and looked at it with amazement and such tenderness, as only a child could.  She turned it around and around and then took a deep breath, puckered, and blew the whisper white seeds into the air. I took a photo just as they were vanishing into the breeze, as her little pink lips still puckered, as softly as a kiss.  It was a glorious photo that captured a most special moment.  I sent  it to a contest and won first prize. It wasn't the prize that was important.  What was important was the moment.

 

I remember it as if it were yesterday.  The sun, the soft warm breeze and a little girl, so full of wonderment and promise,  enchanted by a dandelion.

 

Most of us are surrounded by these moments that are far from ordinary, yet we completely miss them.  I am an observer of people and things.  To me what I observe today is quite sad.  People pass right by a flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, with never a thought of that flower that is growing so heroically and bravely.

Nothing says 'hope' quite so eloquently as a flower such as this, thriving in a place where you might least expect it.  Benjamin Franklin said it perfectly, "Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.  Keep in the sunlight."  Just as this little flower does!  No matter how many times it has been walked on or stepped on, it just keeps right on growing.  But how many people even notice?  How many care?  How many miss this amazing moment? How many live in the sunlight?

I can only feel a sadness for them for missing such moments...the beautiful moments that hold so much meaning, if only we take the time to notice them. Perhaps I am out of touch, out of fashion, out of this world.  But as William Sherman said, "To be yourself, simple, honest and unpretending, you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends."

So just as my precious little blind dog Gracie does, I too will let my little light shine!  For it does and will make a difference.  And, I will, as Homer said, "Go on with a spirit that fears nothing." I will applaud the flowers growing in the cracks and the people and lives they represent.  For there are many of us who thrive in the cracks and crannies of life. And for them I am grateful.

Gracie practices and exhibits courage every single day, with every step she takes.  She is my little brave flower, a flower of hope.  She has a love of life that few humans possess.  She will stand in a crowd or an elevator full of people and roll over onto her back to be petted.  She will coo and give them a gentle kiss with her little pink tongue.  They say, "Oh poor thing she is missing an eye. She is blind."  Oh no quite the contrary, she isn't missing anything.  She lives for the moment, the special, the ordinary, the mundane, the glorious moments that this life offers to all of us, if only we pay attention.  Gracie lets her little light shine, as would all of us, if we would only dream, wish, believe, and live in the moments we are blessed with!

"Grace comes into the soul as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness."

Thomas Adams