Morning Wonder
It’s been a magical kind of summer. Charlie and I have spent the last two months in Wyoming hiking and hosting lots of family and friends.
It has been, in part, a pledge to ourselves to start living each day as we always dreamed we would. If you have read my new book The Last Ordinary Hour, you understand why we are not waiting to make memories.
In our new home for the summer, I developed a morning routine to get the newspaper (which is not delivered to our door like when we are in Charlotte). Our black lab, Dexter, would trot happily beside me exploring each blade of grass and each new aspen tree he needed to mark on our way to get the paper. The mornings were cool, usually 40-50 degrees which was a sharp contrast from the high afternoon temperatures. The air always smelled like sage mixed with rain which seemed to me the scent of endless possibility.
As we would head out, I put in my headphones and turned up the same anthem each day: “The Blessing” sung by Kari Jobe.
The music begins slowly with Jobe’s voice barely heard above a whisper:
The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you
And give you peace
The song builds over eight minutes until it finishes with a spectacular orchestral crescendo accompanying a chorus of “Amen’s.” I am not sure how I found this song on Spotify but every morning this summer it has reminded me what a gift it is just to wake up in this world. Usually by the end, I am lifting my eyes taking in the spectacular golden clouds parting against a robin-egg blue background.
Along with the awe-inspiring sky and soundtrack, what I loved most about the early hours in Wyoming is that I never knew what I might glimpse in the morning mist.
One day, just as the music was bursting in the apex of Amen’s, I spotted six paragliders floating down off the mountain. The celestial sight stopped me in my tracks and I paused to watch them twirl, bright colors of red, yellow, and green filling the sky like petals from heaven.
Another morning, a fox trotted alongside us in a field, keeping his distance but peaking his red head above the wild grass as curious about me as I was about him.
Another day brought a trio of hot air balloons gliding above in a fantastical aerial display of flight and fancy.
And on another occasion, unanticipated raindrops fell gently on my forehead eventually soaking my hair in a morning shower I didn’t know I needed.
Each time was different. I never knew what I might see but I kept the same beautiful blessing playing each morning as the constant music to the life around me.
In his book, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, author Frank Ostaseski writes:
“In living, as in dying, when we hold hope apart from expectation, independent of attachment to outcome, we develop a wise connection with reality. We show up and participate directly in life’s unfolding. We engage in the journey instead of waiting to arrive at our destination.”
The journey instead of the destination.
Each morning, as I walked to get the news of the day—usually headlines about wildfires, political stalemates, and innumerous catastrophes—it became less about my newspaper destination and much more about my journey. I never knew what wildlife might surprise or what might be drifting in the clouds.
I stopped expecting to see one sight or another and just held out hope for each day. There was an openness to the unexpected that was far more intriguing than my actual newspaper destination. My morning musical walks became about the wonder of the journey.
I think this is what Ostaseski means about our lives. If we stop worrying about where we are going, we can fully appreciate where we are. When we do, we will be much more likely to notice and revel in the magic of each moment that is right in front of us. This is how we begin to participate fully in the marvelousness of our lives.
What if I woke every morning to the orchestral wonder of the day not expectant but reverent about all that is in the world waiting for me to notice—how would that change my life?
How would that change all of us if everybody did?
—Kathy
Kathy Izard is an award-winning author, speaker and changemaker as well as the founder of Women | Faith & Story. In the past five years, she has published four books three ways (traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid publishing) and in two languages. Kathy believes we all have a story worth telling and loves helping other women find the courage to put their words in the world. Her new memoir The Last Ordinary Hour is available in paperback, Kindle and Audiobook. Learn more about Kathy: www.kathyizard.com.