Magic Rarely Appears Without An Invitation

​I rarely struggle deciding what to write about in the mornings. The words usually come to me.

Naturally.

From somewhere more beautiful than me.

Like magic.

But as I was wrestling a bit this morning, feeling the tension of being at a loss for words, a dear friend sent me snow images from the beach. This particular image ended up being the words I was looking for. This image ended up being the magic.

From somewhere more beautiful than me.

This photo, the rarest of scenes, a snow-covered beach in eastern North Carolina. The ocean meeting the cold hush of winter's touch.

Magic.

The world has felt harsh to me lately. And if I'm not careful harsh can make me harsh. It can rob me of my magic. Harsh can lead me to believe there is no longer magic to be found at all.

But the truth is, magic rarely presents itself without an invitation. It isn’t something we stumble upon by accident, at least not often enough to sustain us. No, magic is something we must actively seek, commit to - even fight for.

Magic is found in a deep conversation, in an unexpected act of kindness, in the realization that you are still here, still breathing, still capable of love.

But the magic is also found in the unexpected—like snow on a beach, where it shouldn’t be. A contradiction. A blending of opposites. Warm meets cold, ocean meets winter. A reminder that life is full of juxtapositions: grief and joy, despair and hope, endings and new beginnings.

Sometimes magic is inviting in the opposite when the opposite feels so out of reach.

Maybe that’s what faith is—the belief that magic still exists even when it doesn’t look or feel obvious. The willingness to seek it out, even when the world and the news cycle tells us otherwise.

There is something rebellious about refusing to let the heaviness win. About choosing to find joy in a world that constantly tells you there’s no room for it. About choosing to see beauty, even when the world is cluttered with brokenness.

So, I keep looking for the magic.

Even when times don’t feel magical.

Even when the world tells me not to bother.

Because there, on a cold, quiet beach, where snow shouldn’t be, I’m reminded: Magic is still here. You just have to go find it.

And it is often our dearest of friends who show up at just the right time to remind us of that.

Like magic.