Bigger Picture Moment: The Unseen

There were still a few long, low rays of setting sunlight streaming across our western lawn on the day this picture was taken -- but you won't see those.  Our hair was frightfully windblown; Mia's was loose from her ponytail and whipping about her neck, Lauren's was plastered across her brow and cheeks carelessly -- but you can't tell.

You don't know that we stood next to a patch of hardy, weedy flowers poking up through the winter scruff of dried grass, and you don't know that our driveway beside those flowers was cracked and oil-stained.

You couldn't possibly know that Mia's nose was running almost onto her upper lip, and she'd just finished wiping it on the back of her sleeve.  You don't see that.

You don't see the dirt under her fingernails -- not really: the fuzzy distortion takes care of it -- or the marker stains on her fingertips.

You wouldn't have heard me yell for Lauren to come away from the woods, we weren't going there today.  You wouldn't have heard her huff of indignation.  You wouldn't have heard my sigh of exhaustion.

You only see that tiny, delicate bloom.  The brightness of its impossibly perfect stripes.  The symmetry of its fragile petals.  Its diminutive stature cradled in a set of tender-loving hands.

That's what I showed you.  Because that's what I decided to see, too. 

Because those tiny, fleeting moments of beauty -- the moments immediately preceding Mia's little-girl desire to fling the flower into the wind's grip and watch it tumble away (no strings attached) -- are worthy of capture.  It doesn't even matter what tangled hair or snotty sleeve or angry toddler or imperfect lawn were in the background.

Just the foreground, just the purple flower, just the glowing hands in the late afternoon's slanting light. 

We can acknowledge the whole, big picture, but sometimes that means diluting the negative and reveling in the beauty of a close-up.  The simplicity of the zoom.  Life is messy around the edges, and it really does help -- I think -- to tune all of that mess out once in a while, and just...

simply...

enjoy what's beautiful. 

We're seeing the Bigger Picture through simple moments -- moments that force us to stop and take notice of the ways our worlds are important, meaningful, and beautiful.  Please join us today!  Take a minute to focus on what's real in your life -- what's important -- and record it.  Share it below, visit the other participants, and let us be a part of your Bigger Picture!