One morning a little over a week ago, well before the sun rose, I was doing what thousands of other Michiganders were doing - scraping ice and snow off my car. It was windy and cold; I couldn't find my gloves and snow filled my shoes. My language, while not spoken out loud, was something that would have sent my third-grade teacher, Sister Mary Cecelia, through the roof, meriting a public shaming, a note to my parents, and several days kept after school cleaning erasers.
I remember walking into the kitchen, after sufficiently finishing the job, grumbling to the other priest in the rectory, "I hate this weather, why can't I live in Florida?" Fr. Mike didn't respond, taking the wiser course. After my unpleasant greeting, I sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and my iPad to catch up on the news. That, too, was unpleasant; among other lousy news, Russia's threat of the invasion of Ukraine was heating up. The day was not starting well.
Photo taken by Kirsten Huff.
A minute or so later, my iPad dinged with a message. Assuming it was someone ready to burden my day even more so, I reluctantly clicked on the text. The text, from a friend, included the photo seen here and the statement, "Isn't this beautiful."
Of course, living not far from me, the photo was of her yard and trees covered with snow. Harumph!!! That's the last thing I wanted to see. But after a moment, I noticed that the snow-covered trees were beautiful. With that, I turned and looked out my kitchen window to my own backyard and found a similar view.
Looking at her photo and my backyard, I reflected on one of St. Francis de Sales' cherished maxims, “We pray best before beauty.” What had been annoying and disruptive was transformed into something beautiful and a source of gratitude and praise to God. The God who makes all things new, in a split second, had done so for me. The moment changed my day for the better, let me into prayer, and vastly improved my attitude for the day—it is a good lesson to look for beauty in front of us, even in what may not seem beautiful, and discover the grace of God.
Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
