Finding Joy in the Rocks

In this apprenticing to a life lived in gratitude, a life born out of the years of sorrow and loss, I practice finding miracles in the simple things of life.

Yesterday when I walked past a mound of rocks next to a construction site, something stopped me. It was an actual ginormous mountain of beautiful little rocks. I asked my walking companion if I could go back and borrow her phone to take a picture of them, since I didn’t bring mine. “Sure,” she said, and when she sent it to me later, knowing my new intention of taking notice and writing about small things, she jokingly wrote, “Can’t wait to see that on IG!”

Game on, I thought, I’ll take that challenge. I’ll not only put that on Instagram, I’ll write a poem about rocks! I posted them the next day.

Apprenticing takes intention and practice. My old self would’ve just walked right past those rocks. Thinking about how, and why, those little stones brought me joy was a self fulfilling moment.

And then that sparked another moment. After my walk, I went to the fabric store for supplies to make a little quilt, and I took a quick picture of the bolts I was considering. When I looked through my photo roll later that night, I smiled. Side by side were the pictures of the rocks and the cloth. Same color wave. Same delight in the feeling they gave me. A tiny joy unfolded.

Maybe the quilt will become a reminder, to stop and take notice, lift my eyes to the simple beauty of life around me, and find a little joyful whimsy along the way.