Time for Beauty?

How do you make time as a person and as a couple to see and enjoy the beauty of nature?

Our Experience

If you live where there are seasons you have most likely welcomed the display of beauty that comes in the fall. Not only the brilliant colors of the leaves but also the golden time when the sun is on the horizon at the end of the day.

We live in a neighborhood that has a small lake. I have a favorite place to sit close to the water looking out between two tall pine trees. Six months ago, I decided to go there each weekday morning. I wish I had made that decision six years ago.

This morning the sun was high enough to reflect off the water onto the underside of the leaves of small trees. I always look for that light show which is best seen out of the corner of your eyes. It was stunning this morning, reflecting nearly twenty feet up a large cedar tree in the background.

I looked around hoping to see someone I knew walking on the path in the distance. I was desperate to share this experience with someone. (The curse of an extrovert.) If I had seen a stranger looking my way I would have probably called out.

Then I thought, “I’ve got to tell Libby about this.”

We have lived in this neighborhood for almost twenty-five years, but only recently have I noticed the light reflecting off the lake. I was never still enough to see it. Beauty is transforming when it is seen.

I was glad that I saw it, and especially glad that I had someone with whom to share it.

Let me re-phrase that.

I was glad that the someone I have is someone I like. And I was glad that we were in a good ‘season’ that prompts sharing moments with beauty.

So, I asked Libby to tell me about her recent moments of seeing and enjoying the beauty of nature.

We were in the car driving by a large field that is hayed twice a year.

“Well, you know that I love that field, especially when rolls of hay are all over it,” She said.

“And I love seeing the four cows laying down over there.”

I already knew many other good moments for her because she shares them with me.

I can tell that we are in a good place together when we want to take the time to see nature. I can also tell when I am too preoccupied to notice beauty or care about her sharing.

“Come look at this sunset,” is what John Gottman calls a bid for connection and belonging.

May I always accept it.

How can you make time this weekend and next week to see and enjoy nature together?