The world is breathtaking.
The other day, my family and I were driving to church, and the clouds looked as though they were a rolling white and gray ocean, a collection of froth and waves, a layered landscape that begged my attention. My husband was driving, so I snapped pictures, which, of course, did not do the beauty justice. I am no Oliver Pike or Andreas Feininger, though I am a great admirer of nature photography.
I pointed out the spectacle to my children, who paused their backseat fighting to express their awe (they are as enamored with the natural world as their mother).
“It looks like an ocean,” one of them said.
“It looks like we’re driving under the ocean,” another of them said.
“It looks like…” Another could think of nothing to add.
“Like we’re driving upside down, under a sea of gray waves,” I said.
They all laughed at the image—driving upside down!—and agreed.
The clouds, that day, looked like magic. (The interior of our car also felt like magic; my sons did not resume their argument after my interruption. Maybe the clouds really were magical.)
I believe that everyday magic (one might call it miracles) exists everywhere—we just have to know how to look for it. We simply have to open our eyes, fasten them on a point, let the wonder steal into our bones and take us where we have not been before.
I see magic when one of my boys brings me a flower
I smell magic when my oven is baking homemade brownies
I feel magic when my husband gives me a head massage after a headache-y kind of day
I taste magic when chocolate melts in my mouth
I hear magic when a symphony plays
The world doesn’t always seem like the most interesting thing; we can spend days and weeks and months feeling like we always see or hear or taste or feel or smell the same old things. We have to intentionally take notice of its radiance to notice this everyday magic, which does not announce itself but often flutters in on a whisper.
We see everyday magic when people are kind to each other, when a story is read to a child, when love wins (love is always a magical thing).
All it takes to witness everyday magic is to see it—to say, “Ah, look. There it is.”
There it is. Do you see it?
(Photo by Karly Santiago on Unsplash)
