Beauty: In Frustrating Moments

Value: Beauty It was early Monday morning and my husband’s alarm on his Samsung Tab 3 went off just before 3:00 am. He was totally annoyed and couldn’t think why. Sometimes, we touch knobs and buttons by accident and we are altogether in the dark as to why things happen. So, as he wandered around the house seemingly wide awake he took a picture out of the front door to record a snow fall the day after Mother’s Day. It was only a skiff of snow, but the glistening of the streetlights and the powder white substance on the front lawn was a beautiful site. He was wide awake for several more minutes, but he soon was fast asleep again with his photo - a special prize! How many of us see beauty in our frustrating moments. Value beauty!

Nature: How serene!

Value: Nature To Hadley, solitude is yoga. To Emily, solitude is reading the scriptures. Today, my solitude is sitting in my car at the park under the shade of a tree with a warm breeze whispering through the front windows. The cottonwood leaves were shimmering high above where wispy and powder-puff clouds hover above. The birds are chirping in the distance accompanied by the whiz of vehicles about 300 yards away. The squeak of the playground swings are accompanied by father and child interacting and mother and son playing catch with a beach ball. Sounds echo close by in the slam of a car door and the conversations of two cyclists swiftly passing by my car. How serene! Two roller bladers pass by on the walking path 30 yards away. A flag waves proudly in the distance on the top of a tall building and some quail run swiftly across the pathway and grass into the bushes by my side. Nature is serenity - beautiful and peaceful. Value Nature!

Renee and the ladybug (Asian beetle)

Value Learning: I was out in the back yard with a three year old the other day when she discovered a lady bug. It was a beautiful September day and the ladybug was not red but it was orange. She had it between her fingers and was trying to see what it was doing. When it fell onto the grass, I found a leaf for it to crawl upon so that we could be gentler. It crawled off the leaf and onto her arm. She patiently let it crawl and I again brought the leaf under its body so that we could change its location. After a few minutes it dropped again into the grass and we decided that we should let him play. We talked about the lady bug and the things it would eat and spoke about its life. What a delightful learning experience for us, together, as we celebrated the value of learning – the value of learning about nature.