Crazy Vanilla Sky

The sunrise this morning was a beautiful "crazy vanilla sky" -- pale blue streaked with deep pink, the kind of sky my daughter Kara wrote a poem about when she was eight. She called it crazy vanilla because there was an ice cream flavor of the same name that looked just like that perfect pattern of color.

I still have that poem, somewhere, which makes me think I should go through the boxes of my children's writing and organize them so I can remember what lovely, creative beings they have always been. Reflecting on this, I see that each person and each day really is a gift.

I am starkly aware that every day is unique -- a little bit different from each day before it. If we aren't paying attention, it's easy to miss the little distinctions like a crazy vanilla sky or the exact way the leaves are beginning to turn orange on the sugar maples. Life can seem very ordinary and dull if our eyes aren't open to the mystery and beauty of everything around us.

If we stop to think about it, it is an amazing gift that our own personal perspective is unique.  No one else sees the world through our eyes or experiences things in quite the same way.  Even though we are all connected and may have similar thoughts, feelings and viewpoints, each one of us is a miraculously crafted one-of-a-kind creation.  

That is why it is so important to be authentic; to bring forth from within that which is our own. We cannot find it by listening to what our parents or society have told us about who we should be, by following a list of rules, or saying a particular prayer.  

We can only find it by spending time in silence, tuning to the within and finding our Source. If we believe that a loving God created us and longs for us to express our own gifts, not someone else's, we will find our way to Him/Her and start to live an authentic life.

This day, I pray that our eyes will be open to the unique gifts of each day, as well as the beauty that lies within each one of us, just waiting to be expressed.