This day finds me in Minneapolis as I have been for a few days. A beautiful time of year to visit the Twin Cities, for fall is every where and the cooler temperatures have just arrived. I had the privilege of visiting the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum on Sunday, a work of living art that brought delight and opportunities to walk for the afternoon. The week is scheduled heavily with outcomes that all require precision this week, performances, launches, meetings, this small town lady is navigating four areas of interstates, driving to corporations, and meeting with friends, the whirlwind is indeed spinning.
One of the privileges of travel is seeing friends in their native habitat. My world is often digital, our team, our work environment is often virtual, so these face to face engagements are precious and powerful. This week I had the opportunity to meet one of our newest members of society…a nearing one year old boy, the son of an entrepreneur we appreciate and engage. There is nothing quite as joyful as a young boy who is 100% all boy. At the restaurant he found delight in everything from the pebbles at our feet to the aromas in the air. What a great reminder of just how vibrant life is by simply being present where you are.
My heart was heavy coming to this trip. Life sometimes delivers unexpected events that cause grief in the deepest sense. Each life lived before us is of course, each person’s, but so often choices affect so many more than oneself. Those of us who have lived half a century have witnessed and experienced enough to know some of the unforeseen prices choices made create. It is the gift of prayer to take such burdens to one who cares deeply for all of his children. I am well experienced in knowing the path to God’s care, but it is still a struggle to release those situations that hurt my heart or concern my mind to Him as the one who cares most for all of us. A comfort to know though that the battle is His, not mine, and my role is simply to love myself and others through.
Each day here I am reminded of the gifts of home. I adore the time I spend with clients and friends here, this city is a bustling, changing view of interesting things to see and do. I am reminded though as I am in a city setting, that the birds are quieter here, the morning bunnies I witness outside my window each day are replaced with hopping squirrels in the neighborhood. That the leaves in urban lawns are different than the landscapes of the woods outside my window at home. I suspect many here in mega homes so much like I owned in Dallas could not understand my choice of our little brown house, it is a foreign concept of wealth to many, but its presence in my life brings joy every day. It’s imperfections and closeness draws us in and our family loses their busy and finds each other again. It has been a good choice…and one that was a great risk to choose. Daring greatly as Brene’ Brown would say, I chose a path that my heart cried out for, that supports my peace and gladdens my soul.
Where are you today? What brings the morning in your world. For me today it is a day of suits, heels, and new horizons, long worked for, but more than that, it is a day that is fresh and worthy of engaging, and I am thankful.
