Precious tiny things
"Seeing the small is called clarity"
---Lao Tsu
The other day Max looked at me with big big eyes and said, "Mom...Big things come in small packages." He was so sincere as he uttered this cliche, my heart just melted. Since then I have been reflecting on this childhood wisdom, so simple and sweet. It seems that lately for me the greatest wonder has come in the smallest of things. The fantastic, big and splashy become lost on me--they seem to get dissolve almost instantly into disappointment or some sort of anticlimax. Whenever I focus on the big, it leaves me feeling a bit let down.
But the small never fails to fascinate. Perhaps it is the humility of the tiny that make the small so endearing. Perhaps it is the surprise of tiny that thrills. Perhaps it is the intimacy that instantly touches my heart. I don't know why, but these days I am big on small.
When we were in West Virginia last weekend we found hundreds of the tiniest of shells along the beach. Each one was a marvel into itself, as perfectly formed in every detail as their huge seaside cousins. I was drawn in by these wonders, so precious and sweet and understated.
The sweetness of small this week has been captured in the joy of a single hour on a friend's front steps sipping wine, of a spoonful of mint chocolate chip icecream, of 5 minutes of stillness in the morning when no one else was awake, of 20 minutes of nonstop giggling as Max dances in the kitchen with our new roommate.
May hundreds of tiny sweetnesses fill your week.
