A friend of mine wishes that people would talk more about the things that are not going well in their lives, the projects they don’t finish, the messiness of their houses, their failures to please others. It started me thinking. I prefer to present a happy face to the world, partially because I fear that if I give focus and attention to the bad, I will enter a depression that I will never emerge from.

Mostly I don’t discuss failures because I think unfinished projects, rejection, unmade beds and unwashed dishes, and people disappointed with the decisions I make is the norm. It is just part of our shared humanity. The world rapidly disintegrates around us and we are part of that disintegration.

Fortunately the world is not just filled with disintegration and failure. It is also filled with miracles. We get to choose what we look at.

It’s not the unfinished stories that are the odd things out. It’s a miracle that I’ve finished a story. It’s an even bigger miracle when I love my finished story. And it’s another miracle when the story finds a home.

It’s not that my messy house means I’m a failure. A perfectly neat house is an anomalous miracle that should be enjoyed and celebrated for its soap bubble lifespan during which it stays neat.

It’s not that I have a kajillion unfinished art and craft failures. Those are just the spoor that lets me know I have a creative life. The miracle is that I finished my lotus painting or created a wonderful piece of digital art.

The latest miracle in my life is that, Enrapturing Tales picked up my Argosy story, “The Case of the Missing Silk Divers” for their book, Mermaidens. If you’d like to read the tail tale, you can pick it up here: https://books2read.com/u/3LVDr1

We celebrate all miracles. You should too.

I hope your life is filled with more miracles than messes, but if it’s not, know that you are not alone in this. You are like the lotus that rises from the dark pond crowded with lotus leaves or the mermaid who sings in beauty in the deeps. It is not our messes and failures that define us, but our beauty rising above it like a brief miracle.

Savor your beauty. I do.

Be well, friends!