brushed by the hand of God

So we may be in full Christmas mode, but here in the South, the trees are still hanging on to Fall by their tippy toes. As I was running around today with a sweet babbling baby in the back seat trying to get a gazillion errands done I couldn't help but notice the beauty all around me. I love the colors of Fall and often lament that we don't really get a true Autumn around these parts, but then maybe I just don't look around for it hard enough?

This is what I saw. It slowed me down. I love that. I needed that.

Isn't it divine? These trees reminded me of an old song (okay, maybe not really "old" but one I haven't heard in a few years) by Lonestar where the guy is talking about traveling for his job and says, "I've seen the paintings from the air, brushed by the hand of God". Isn't it amazing His love for us that He would give us such beauty as these. I love the part of that song that goes:

My blessings are right in front of me.
It's not about the land
I'll never beat the view
From my front porch looking in.

I see what beautiful is about
When I'm looking in
Not when I'm looking out

Rather than run my last morning errand, we quickly made a round back home to grab a bag of old hot dog buns and then headed back out to Grace's school. When we picked up the little pumpkin at school, errands and chores were completely ignored so we could feed the ducks at the duck pond and play in the park.

This is what I saw: BEAUTY. JOY. When things get crazy busy my thoughts always go back to something my friend Jenn said that has stuck with me, "there is always time for 10 big swings". Isn't that the truth? Our 40 minutes at the park were hands down the BEST part of my day.

And then to make sure I got the point to slow down and see the beauty from my front porch looking in, when we were getting out of the car at home, Grace exclaimed, "I'M SO HAPPY!

Thank you God for reminding me of what truly is important!