#trust30: Ordinary Things

Ordinary Things by Ana Guardia

“Every artist was first an amateur.”

To be an artist one has to find beauty in ordinary things. Find 10 things of great beauty in the landscape that surrounds you. For example, crumple sheets on your bed in the morning, the smell of coffee making its way around a busy office. (Author: Ana Guardia)

Ten things around me that I find beautiful, huh?  I'm currently sitting at my desk, so here goes.

1. A frame containing four panels.  The panels contain drawings my daughter did several years ago of us and our cats.

2. A second frame containing cut-outs that spell dad.  The first D contains a photo of my son and I.  The A - me and both my children.  The final D, my daughter and I.

3. Many, many trees outside my office window.  It's gray right now, but I love rain, so that's fine.  I can see glimpses of the lake through the trees and if I stand up, I can see the ponds and walking path just outside the building.

4. My stats screen is showing that it's after 5 pm, but not yet 5:30.  This is a little bit of me-time between work and home and for once, I'm not yet late.

5. Attached to the window is a post-it.  It was an idea for a project that did not get prioritized.  However, it so resonated with people that some work is being done on it in people's spare time when they don't have prioritized projects to work on.  That's beautiful.

6. My coffee cup.  It's empty right now, but it's the place that holds my coffee before I drink it.  And coffee makes me happy.  Even if it's the office drip.  Because it's sweet and warm and I like the solid heft of the cup.  Oh, and it has a photo of my daughter from before we moved here.  People have asked recently and I have to laugh and say the cup is 6 or so years old.

7. There are a bunch of multi-colored post-its on my desk.  Each one represents a to-do list item.  But at a quick glance, it's just a splash of color.  Tomorrow I may not find them so beautiful.

8. I have a miniature zen garden on my desk as well.  It's been awhile since I gardened, but I can picture myself using it.

9. My calendar is beautiful.  It tells me I have only one more day of work before I go on vacation.

10. There's also a small piece of wood cut in the shape of a church that someone gave me that hangs on the wall of my office.  Someone's used a wood burner to draw on a door and some windows and the words "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  It's nothing fancy and the words run together a little bit.  I suspect it's handmade.  It's a nice bit of randomness amongst all the sharp polished angled lines of all of the computer monitors (3) and picture frames and wires and stuff.