Saturday, May 26, 2007

Simple



There is an old Shaker hymn that sings "'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free. 'Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be." I learned the hymn when I sang in my elementary school choir and I've never forgotten that line. It has often provided comfort to me in rough moments of life, reminding me what's truly important. When the Sunday Scribblings prompt this week was "simple" I thought about that hymn and the simple things that I most enjoy. And so I've made a list of my very favorite simple pleasures:

- the sound of my boy laughing
- sitting on my back deck drinking a warm cup of coffee on a cool morning
- the sound of the rain when it just starts to fall
- the smile on my boy's face when he does something well
- an ice cold glass of Coke
- the smell and feel of the dark woods
- my kittens curled up and peaceful at the foot of my bed
- holding hands with someone you love
- the sight of my son, freshly washed, in clean pajamas and asleep in his bed
- a new, soft cardigan sweater
- the dark, deep, green depth of the twilight in the spring

6 comments:

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Love the hymn--thanks for sharing! I keep a list of such simple pleasures in a journal, and in fact, shared some pages on my blog a while back. Never fails to make me smile :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

lovely list, thanks!

Regina said...

I thought of that song as well... talk about simple, the shakers were wonderul examples of this...
I loved your list, too!

gautami tripathy said...

Great list...

Thanks for that hymn.

Patois42 said...

I love your list. It's wise to keep that list handy for when life is complicated and crazed.

Left-handed Trees... said...

So lovely and inspiring...the rain, the woods, a little one all tucked in, and the green-green-green...I am with you!
--D.--