Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town, Emily asks, after she has already died and entered eternity, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it … every, every minute?”

Emily saw too late that life is beautiful, valuable, and so, so rich, and much of its beauty is found in the mundane, in the ordinary things that occur every day.

In a culture obsessed with productivity and working hard, it’s easy to rush through life and miss the beauty that God intends for us to enjoy.

We walk quickly to work with our heads down, looking at our cell phones to check the calendar for the day, and miss the sun shining brightly overhead and the smiles on the faces of those walking towards us.

We miss gorgeous sunsets and warm breezes, infectious laughter and the brightness of the moon, not because we don’t see them or feel them or hear them, but because we don’t take the time to experience them.

Today, make a concerted effort to notice the beauty all around you. Stop and listen to the joyful sound of a child’s laughter; stop and notice, really notice, the beauty and the vastness of the sky. God made these things for you to enjoy.

Don’t rush past the ordinariness of life’s most extraordinary gifts. For there, you’ll see the beauty of God and His kind heart towards you.

“He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy, laying the beams of His palace on the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind, and making the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants” (Ps. 104:2-4).