The Heart of Life...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you sit back and know that life is good? I had a few moments like that today. And I was caught a bit by surprise.

I spent the past week in Saskatchewan working and came home last night (Friday). We spent a couple hours eating with Mark, Amy, and Paul...and saying our good byes to uncle Paul as he heads off to Europe for a couple months. We got up this morning and then headed off to Pembina Valley Bible Camp for a one day retreat for the iPray team Andrea is apart of at Seeds (I was coming along to care for Luke). I knew this retreat was coming, but I wasn't all that excited about being away from home the day after returning from a week long work trip. Combine that with the fact that it is Soup Sunday tomorrow (a very busy morning for me)...and I had a bit of an attitude thinking about the day away from home.

Anyway, something changed this morning and I began to get excited about spending the day focusing on Luke's needs. In the end, Luke & I had a great day together.

But back to the first line of the post: there were moments today when I felt deep within me contentment & joy. Here are some of those experiences:
- watching Luke wake up in our bed (the serenity of this moment ended suddenly when he gave me a bloody nose with his dagger like finger nails)
- going for a short walk with Luke and watching him fall asleep
- napping in the chalet with Luke on my chest (does it really get better than that?)
- watching a hawk soar effortlessly in the air just above the deck when we were eating lunch
- spotting a belted Kingfisher on the way home and being encouraged by Andrea to pull over, stop the caravan, and take a good look at the bird through our binoculars.

These moments, though none of them were earth shattering, were all moments that caused me to pause and say to myself "this is the good life". In recent months I've begun to realize that the good life comes to me in small, quiet moments where I slow down enough to realize all that's around me. There is beauty in this very moment, if we will train our eyes to see it.