Two people who are very important to me are currently on a trip to another part of the country. They are driving through and exploring a large area in the northeastern United States, and in doing that they have encountered some incredibly beautiful places. They’ve sent me some pictures they’ve taken of some of the places they have been and I’ve just been blown away by the all the beauty they have captured in those photos. I am so happy that these two wonderful people are having this wonderful experience.

I was thinking about that this morning as I was standing in my kitchen, looking out the window. It was the middle of the morning and the sun is so bright and the sky is so blue here today. The leaves in the little tree at the end of my walkway have changed color to a lovely gold, and looking out my window, I could see how brightly the sun was shining in those leaves. The vibrant blue backdrop of the sky made the bright sunshine in the leaves stand out even more, and it was like the leaves were glittering as they moved a little bit in the breeze. It was completely mesmerizing to me. I watched the sun in the leaves of that tree for a long time.

While I was looking at all of that, I thought about the pictures Beth and Jere had sent me. I thought about what it would be like to be completely surrounded by the kind of beauty they are experiencing. I thought about how it would feel to be in those places, encountering that kind of beauty. It would have to feel awe-inspiring.

Then I thought about the beauty I was encountering right where I was, at that very moment. I went outside and walked around the tree, looking up at the leaves from different places. I got out my camera and took some pictures of what I was seeing because I wanted to capture some of the beauty in those moments. When I did that, through the camera lens, I was able to look even closer at different parts of the tree. I kept seeing more and more beauty.

I realized that it would be an incredible experience to be where Jere and Beth are right now and see what they are seeing, but I don’t have to travel from where I am or move on from this present moment in order to encounter incredible beauty. There is so much beauty around us, all kinds of beauty, in everything that the present moment brings to us. There is beauty in front of us all of the time, wherever we are. We just have to stop and look at the sun in the leaves.

I hope you experience incredible beauty wherever you are today!