"We have no time to stand and stare"

on finding gifts outside in the form of bicycles and storm clouds

Today I watched my two middle boys learn how to ride bikes. One at five years old, the other, seven. We recently had cousins over their same age, and I think this prompted that final push. They had been very close already, practicing daily with training wheels and balance bikes. The joy on their faces was contagious and I had to stifle a laugh when my five-year-old wiped out in front of me, got up quickly and said, “I meant to do that.”

bicycle tracks

This evening I stepped outside and saw a rainbow. When was the last time I saw a rainbow? Last year we were in a drought so there hardly the opportunity for one. This spring and summer, the opposite of a drought, it's been rain upon rain upon rain. These last two days it's come down in sheets, never really knowing when it will start or stop, it's had a mind of its own.

I don't live anywhere particularly beautiful...it's flat here. Farmland. Corn and soybeans. Nobody comes here for vacations or landmarks.

But tonight, tonight after flash flooding across the Midwest, washed out gravel roads and flooded fields, tonight I stepped out and saw this. Stunning.

You don't get to see what I saw because it was just for me and I’m not a photographer. What I saw was a present from my Creator at the end of a very long and messy diaper filled day.

Murky ditch puddles became mirrors for after-storm colors: gold, yellow, purple, blue.

I looked up at the sky and witnessed every shade of blue imaginable. A simple rainbow would have been enough, but this was more.

I took all this in before I was called inside by my toddler in need of help in the bathroom. Sunsets don't come without bedtime needs here.

There's a poem that comes to mind, recently shared by a dear friend of mine. Now it's my turn to share it with you.

Leisure
by William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Step outside for awhile. Watch a kid learn how to ride a bike, or splash in a puddle. You don’t have to live somewhere remarkable to witness something beautiful.