10 Beautiful Things, vol. 45
New life; new-to-me literature
Good morning!
This is 10 Beautiful Things, a weekly missive about the search for beauty in ordinary life. Here you’ll find ten things I’ve found beautiful, online or off. I hope to share some beauty with you, and encourage you to find (and share!) some beautiful things of your own.
A first tiny daffodil blooming outside my kitchen window, from bulbs I did not plant!
I finished East of Eden this week, and I am so glad that I read it. Such a powerful reflection on being human, redemption, and the pain of love. I will be thinking about it for a long, long time.
I started A Circle of Quiet shortly after, which has been on my to-be-read list for several years but I’ve just never gotten around to it. Only a few chapters in, Madeleine L’Engle feels like my literary aunt (along with Anaïs Mitchell).
Speaking of aunts, I brought a jar of my aunt Kathleen’s most delicious homemade jam with me to Scotland after my winter break in Virginia and we just finished it off this week.
A small convening of snowdrops and crocuses outside the cathedral ruins:
I watched the second part of Anne of Green Gables with friends this weekend, and I’m thinking about this line: “You know something, Diana? We are rich. We have sixteen years to our credit, and we both have wonderful imaginations. We should be as happy as queens.”
Friends in my community here who I can bring theological queries about my research to. This has been rare in my life up until now!
Homemade Thai food.
Sky colors (at 5:30pm, no less… is winter over?).
The way that the Spirit is using Lent to work on me: making me ever more aware of the ways I don’t always trust God, love others, resist the temptation to be self-absorbed... I am reminded that God’s great care for us does not leave us where we are, but continually draws us closer.
What’s something beautiful you found this week?