Mile Marker: Just One Good Thing

As I slogged along my last mile, the discomfort of a fugitive pebble in my shoe required that I stop to remove it.  I sat on a step near the sidewalk, holding one shoe in my hand, when my eye caught the striking beauty of a single lily swaying in the gentle morning breeze.  Its silky magenta petals burst outward from a brilliant yellow center, and the entire bloom contrasted against underlying textures, woven of muddled earth and sharp green leaves.  Quickly, as the breeze ebbed, even before returning my foot to my shoe, I tried to capture the image.

Equipped only with an inexpensive cell phone camera and my own lack of ability as a photographer, I made an effort to keep the reflections of the morning sun at bay. Admittedly, the resulting image was very bad. I even managed to capture a bit of my own socked foot in the upper right corner.  But, I needed that photograph. It was my one good thing for the day.

Once home, I experimented with a picture-imaging tool, cropping here, tweaking there, and found that the resulting watercolor-type image became appealing enough to serve as the wallpaper on my laptop.  It is a simple reminder: as we plod along our varied paths in life, any distance carries the risk of discovering that a pebble has found its way underfoot. Stop to dislodge it, then pay close attention.  Every painful pebble is accompanied by an opportunity to find just one good thing.  Perhaps that one good thing lies nearby. Perhaps it lies within you.  Tweak it, minimize the imperfections.  Work with it until it makes you smile.

Get moving.  It's time to find just one good thing for today.  Here's to the next mile!