everyday derring-do

Sometimes in our frenetic comings and goings, we catch glimpse of a sky that drops our plans and causes us to give chase.

We want one good glimpse.
A long look into a spanning palette.
We need one last shot.

A moment to savor the uncluttered sky. No power lines, fast food signs, and billboards in our race to an exhausted day’s-end.

Evening last, I encountered one of those sunsets. Instead of following my friend to return something she’d left with me, I was distracted by a John Steuart Curry sky.

Roils of billowing white clouds climbed from under a cloud bank on fire.
A backdrop of cerulean blue.

Wonder.
Quiet.
Stillness.

So often in our everydays, wonder becomes “I wonder how I could be so stupid” or “I wonder if the rain is going to keep leaking into my lap” or “I wonder how I am going to ask forgiveness.”

In the last 24 hours, I’ve encountered each of those difficult wonders – much of my own doing.

Even though I’d been foolishly blind, soaked in transit, and originator of a lousy mucking up, that setting sun and humid air still crashed above into cooler winds – just in time for the atmosphere to catch fire and wonder to stop me alongside a busy road.

Wonder. 

Perhaps slowing down can be as brave and restorative as fighting every dragon and facing each giant.
And in slowing down, we may move from a bagful of oh-geez “I wonders” to quiet, stillness, and wisdom where “oh wow” resides.

***I will be out-of-pocket Friday – Monday in search of quiet and stillness and welcoming wonder. Wish you could join me, but let’s meet back here next week to start a new refreshed conversation of our Everyday DerringDos. Tchuss.