My House Sparkles . . .

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I get up at 5:50 AM with my two oldest kids who attend an early morning scripture study class. I don’t have to get up with them, but I choose to because I want them to know they are important to me. I want to spend a little time with them before they are gone from me all day. I am completely tired when I do it. But I do it.

Last week I was lying on the couch after they’d gone and a ray of sun came streaming in through the transoms by our front door. It was bright and instantly lifted my worn out spirit. I was mesmerized by the shaft of light, not only by its radiance, but also because in it I could see millions of tiny dust particles floating almost weightlessly in the air.

Is that gross? I’m sure a part of me should have immediately jumped off of the couch and run for some cleaning supplies, but I could not do it. I was transfixed. So instead, I grabbed my camera, laid right back down on the couch and tried for about a half of an hour to capture what it was I was seeing.

This shot is the best I could do. It reminds me of fairy dust being sprinkled for good luck or magical powers. I’m going to stick with that feeling, because it seems much more glamorous than the reality.

Let’s be honest. I have six people living in this house with various comings and goings, sports equipment, backpacks, briefcases, shoes and bodies moving about. It is a dust producing predicament. Plus we are in the absolute prime of the pollen releasing Spring season in Virginia – a time known to leave a skim coat of yellowish green dusting on every single surface outside. I dust, Swiffer and vacuum my house at least once a week, but no matter what there is another coat of dust the following week.

I can’t change it. But I can change my view of it.

In this dusty house, life is lived to the fullest. So when I see dust motes floating in the air or a coating of dust on a flat surface, or I can write my name in dust on the dresser in Chris’ room (frequently I just write “Dust Me”), I will remember this picture and the beauty of this moment and I will tell myself that my house sparkles.