I was walking this morning before most of the world had begun. It was so good to hear the cardinals and the chickadees and the robins. The blue jay manhandled a piece of nest and bullied his way past another bird that knew its place in the pecking order. The smell of flowering trees made me want to plant myself under one of the trees with a book. I didn’t even look up at the sky to notice the beauty of the clouds or the sunrise, because there was so much to see at eye level.

I’ve missed the songbirds of the city. I’ve missed the abundance of pastel-colored flowering trees in every direction. I’ve missed the routine of getting ready for work in an office, driving to an office, working in an office. I’ve missed the opportunities to see friends and worship in person with like-minded. I’ve missed being with my sister and my Dad. I’ve missed walking hills and trails.

When it was lunchtime, I walked around the building and enjoyed the smell of freshly mown grass and the visual of finely manicured lawns and a sea of daffodils in the beds next to the entrance. My penchant for orderly and neat is taking it all in right now on this side of the city as people work to make their landscaping “spring beautiful.”

At the end of a long day staring at three computer screens, I go home to hear all about Sam’s day that is typically filled with sheetrock dust, drill bits, Marketplace wheeling and dealing, and individuals bidding on a job. He’s hit his stride once again, visioning a beautiful new home and a new purpose in his unwelcomed retirement. He is finding that retirement DOES allow him time to spend a day showing off his car at a show, or time to work in his daughter’s yard and enjoy her company on her day off.

Currently, we are living in a home that is in destruction and under construction. Every room holds tools. Every room has temporary and only necessary furniture, if any at all. Every room is coated with dust or residual scraped popcorn ceiling waiting for an industrial vacuum and multiple moppings. Almost every room has a fresh coat of paint. Every room has a plan in Sam’s visionary mind. Every room will have Sam’s brainprint, and that makes me happy.

Our small group is beginning a new book study this week – Dream Big, by Bob Goff. I have begun listening to him read it out loud to me on my morning walks, and I can already sense that it is going to be a kick in the pants for me. I suppose it is good timing, since we are turning another page and entering a new season. It is time to wake up and rediscover a purpose and find new opportunities to give and serve and dream and live life abundantly.

On Monday evening, my Dad made sure I saw an email that someone from his Church of the Resurrection Sunday School class sent to him:

I am pretty grateful today. God has blessed us beyond what we deserve, and I haven’t been so good at counting every last blessing lately. I have focused on the black dot.

So today and days to come, I will retrain my life on focusing on the white paper that is full of color and stories to be written going forward.

I will think to myself…what a WONDERFUL world.