“Stepping back and harvesting the gifts of the day.

Reflecting on its fruits, giving thanks. 

Knowing the difference between holding and grasping, needing and wanting,

brings peace.”

~ Sister Stan

I love this quote by Sister Stan. It’s so good to step back a bit and reflect  at the end of the day.

It almost feels like a big exhale– an  often quite necessary letting down.

And then, then after the exhale, well, there’s more room and space for the breathing in.

Yes, then comes a breathing in and taking a few moments to think on or ponder the goings on of what lays behind.

Because it does—“lays behind”, that is. The past is just that–the past. So sometimes it’s good to be intentional about taking things in while they are still fresh, because the next day will hold its own gifts.

Each day holds gifts…but sometimes we don’t even recognize them until we step back and just take a minute to reflect. It’s easy to miss them if we’re not intentional. It occurs to me that a day can be likened to a feast in the same way that Sister Stan spoke of the harvesting of the “fruits of the day”.There’s a huge difference between gulping down a meal hurriedly, and taking the time to enjoy and savor it.

I’m thinking that our world encourages the fast-paced gulping down—and it takes making an effort to stop and be mindful of the little things right in front of us.  Harvesting is a gathering of, a collecting, an acknowledgement of picking the fruit and then–this is important—leaving the waste behind. Not carrying it with us into the night or another day. Nope. Harvest the good, learn from the bad, and leave the negative waste behind.  It might take a minute. I mean, life is LOUD…so often it is just loud and busy and full. But even in the fullest of days, there can be the moments that breathe life back into us. We’ve just gotta make space for those.

These quiet moments could include walking outside and looking up at the stars and thanking God for another day.  (I often purposely wait until after dark to get the mail …and always walk out at night and look up at the stars…it MAKES me stop.) Or the quiet moments could be drinking a cup of tea and sitting in the quiet. Could be reading a great passage of scripture or a good book. Or talking with a friend or family member over the ‘little things’. Could be praying and thanking God for the grace of living another day. So much that we take for granted is not a given, and I’m so aware that the more mindful I am, the more awareness I have of the gifts that are all around me. And there are plenty of gifts around me….and am guessing, there are around you as well. . Praying we have  the tenacity to turn the volume of the world down and have ears to hear and  eyes to see the gifts all around us…and that we’re intentional about “harvesting” those. It could be that in the quieting down we’re made aware of the greatest gift of all–the Presence of the One who knows us best–and loves us right there in the middle of wherever we are. Emmanuel- God is with us.

Blessings ~
Heather

“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”   ~ Psalm 9:1 ❤

p.s. Over the years, blogging has been a great diversion for me and has held lots of sweet surprises. Some of the sweetest have been some friendships built with folks I might never see face to face. One of those is Alison…she lives in Ireland–and awhile back she sent me Sister Stan’s book called Stillness. I just want to say “Thank You!” to Alison–for the book and for your sweet friendship! You’re one of the gifts in my daily harvesting today ❤  Blessings to you and yours.