I cleaned my sewing room yesterday which is a daunting task, as I have a bad habit of making a mess when I am on a sewing binge and don’t want to take the time to put things away. Feeling rather courageous, I carefully sorted my boxes and piles of scraps and oddments, even filling several bags of fabric for a friend’s granddaughter who wants “scraps” for a project she is doing. I then decided to get rid of this old hulking computer desk we had stuffed in my sewing room, since it was too heavy for us to move down the stairs. It’s amazing what disappears when you put something by the street with a “free” sign on it. A granddaughter finds herself in one of those in-between times and needs a place to stay until she figures out her next move, she’s moved in with me (hurrah) and wanted a desk to work on her projects. So into her room it went!
I’m sure none of you care one wit about this tiny glimpse into my life, but somehow all this has filled me with so much happiness that it’s just spilling out of me this morning. It’s so easy to forget that it’s the little things that shape the background of our lives. For instance, the front of our house is filled with an exuberant mass of sunflowers the birds planted as they squabbled at the feeders last spring. They definitely don’t fit with the rest of the organized plantings but what is more amazing than a cluster of sunflowers? There is something so joyous about the way they lift their smiling faces to the sun. Part of me wants to cut them and bring them inside, but I’ve decided to leave them there to shout their hellos to each and every passerby.
Life is so full of joy and beauty if we take the time to pay attention. Instead of grumbling about emptying the dishwasher or running the sweeper or picking up clutter, why not celebrate the fact we have a dishwasher, a sweeper, and even clutter. Then there are the little things others do that brighten my day. For instance, a friend sends me a picture of some lovely or interesting sight day after day. Sometimes I send a thank you, but far too often I neglect to tell him how much they mean to me. To know he cares enough to send me carefully chosen pictures leaves me in awe.
And then there are books. I feel sorry for those who have never learned the joy of reading. I have traveled the world and shared all kinds of experiences through books. Some make me sad, some make me angry, some make me glad, some leave me weeping, having touched something deep inside – and some just make me grateful. Grateful for my eyes, for the ability to see, to read, to drink in the beauty of our surroundings.
How dare we take something so precious as life and sight and hearing for granted? How dare we grumble and growl because life doesn’t give us what we want right now when we are so blessed in so many ways? Our church pianist has so many medical issues. She lives with constant pain and yet almost every Sunday she is there gracing us with her music. There is never a week that her music does not touch something deep inside of me.
I know life can be hard and challenging, but gratitude can open so many doors to joy and awareness. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to see the world through the eyes of love and appreciation.
Joyce Shutt
Pastor Emeritus + Writer
Fairfield Mennonite Church
Bio
Joyce is a prolific writer: publishing almost daily online, twice weekly in two local newspapers and occasionally preaching Sunday mornings at Fairfield Mennonite Church in Fairfield, PA. She has written for many Mennonite publications throughout her life including The Mennonite, Gospel Herald, and Builder. Her book, Steps to Hope, compares the Beatitudes with the 12 steps of AA, and she wrote a chapter for She Has Done a Good Thing: Mennonite Women Leaders Tell their Stories. Joyce served on the Commission for Home Ministries for many years, for Mennonite Central Committee post World War 2, and as a pastor.
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