Gratitude, The Difference Between The Beauty We'll Preserve And The Beauty We Won't

​I wrote these words yesterday morning:

"Maybe that's the ultimate power of gratitude. Maybe it exposes beauty in the world that would forever go unknown without gratitude."

Sometimes my writing is me reflecting in real-time. Typing away the thought that pour uncontrollably into me. Sometimes my writing is words pouring into me that I'll reflect on much deeper for some time to come.

Yesterday was the latter.

I was fishing with Ian, standing on the side of the lake. It was cold and dreary and what some might call an ugly day. As I stood there staring out over the grey water, I found myself wondering, is this a beautiful lake?

Standing here, right now, in the midst of all that could be felt as gloom, is this a beautiful lake?

And all I kept hearing, a voice of sorts, was if you see it as so, then it is so.

A lake by definition is not beautiful. I can't find a definition anywhere that will describe it that way. Maybe beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. And without beholders, can anything ever really become beautiful? (As I write those words, God is reminding me my word for 2024 is behold).

I had a conversation with a dear friend about gratitude last week. A conversation that undoubtedly shoved me down this path of deeper reflection on the power of gratitude. But I said, I think it's developing this capacity to be grateful for the seemingly small things in life, or the things that feel harder to be grateful for, that ultimately makes gratitude a powerful character trait in our lives.

Because in many ways, I'm coming to believe the world is a blank canvas. Beauty is the vision we paint upon that canvas. It's the story we write about all that we behold.

Is gratitude the paint brush and the pen?

And so I ask myself again, is this a beautiful lake?

I've come to believe that's not the right question. The right question is, am I grateful for this lake? For this moment to be standing next to it with my kid? Do I have the power to see and feel and write a beautiful story on the surface of these waters?

Yes, this is most assuredly a beautiful lake.

Today is Earth Day. A day I didn't know was coming in the heart of my reflecting yesterday, but something I now know was preparing me to respond to this celebration.

Preparing me to respond to the question, do we have a beautiful earth?

I would answer that I've been blessed to see so much that I am grateful for on this earth, so yes, indeed it is beautiful.

I do long to see more spaces that I can see and write beauty into. I long to do more of my part finding ways to ensure every generation to come has the chance to see and write their own beautiful stories.

Gratitude, the difference between the beauty we see and the beauty we don't. And gratitude, the difference between the beauty we'll preserve and the beauty we won't.

Happy Earth Day all.

What a beautiful earth it is!!