Osler's Razor

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday, and I have been reflecting on things that I have learned from her, however awkwardly or incompletely. Yes-- don't worry-- I also called her and sent a little present, but that doesn't mean I haven't also thought long and hard about a few great moments.

One of my mother's great gifts has always been to find beauty and grace in nearly any place or situation. She is the one who notices the wildflowers growing by the abandoned crack house, or hue of a perfect tomato. It's something I have learned to look for, and allow in when we are someplace together.

It seems that focusing on small beauty, the beauty in the spaces, can really bring joy. It also is more reliable that trying to see big things as beautiful, or hero-izing people or institutions that are inevitably complex and disappointing.  I might hear brute stupidity in what someone says; it could be that my mom hears the same, but what she notes is his use of the right word or reluctance to compound something hurtful. 

It must mean something that God speaks to us in a "still small voice." Perhaps we need to listen in that same spirit.