The opposite of lovely isn’t ugly.

It’s busy.

Busy looks like bad attitudes and dirty laundry. It’s the dishes in the sink and piles of paperwork in the office. It’s the important conversation I’m dragging my feet to have. It’s the traffic on my drive to work. It’s 11 days until taxes are due and its still at the top of the to-do list. It’s all these busy things that hide the lovely that’s around me every day.

Lovely for me this past week was a spontaneous picnic in the park. Doing logic puzzles in bed. Seeing a neighbor’s bon fire out my window. Watching a toddler hold back anger and think. Peeking out a window to watch my husband teach my daughter golf. Watching my son focus and play with sticks on the playground.

When my day is overcome by busy, urgent, and stressful – that’s when I miss lovely. When I’m more concerned with a clean house than cuddles and giggles with my kids – that’s when I miss the lovely. (And don’t get me wrong, my favorite home accessory lately has been a clean counter! So, there’s nothing wrong with things actually looking lovely.)

The opposite of lovely is busy.
And busy hides the lovely.

Lovely isn’t always easy to recognize. To be honest, looking for lovely can be difficult!

I remember a time when I was late for work. Like, really late! I was in traffic that I couldn’t get out of. I was on a 9-mile stretch of roadway, no exits in either direction. At one point, I was looking at my office building, about a mile away, and my car was in park, in traffic.

Often during my drive time I’m searching the radio for a better song, judging others by their poor driving, and constantly doing the math to see if I’m going to be late for work. Yes, busy, important stuff.

Here’s what I’m leaving out about that particular commute – I had the most gorgeous view! (Just Google search “Courtney Campbell Causeway” and you’ll see what I mean!) Once I hit the causeway, it was 9 miles of palm trees, water, and pelicans, with the sun rising to my right. It’s the things that Florida postcards are made of.

As I sat with my car in park that day, I finally gave up being busy. Then I saw it. Two dolphins racing just a few yards offshore and showing off to their captive audience in traffic. Leaping out of the water during the Tampa sunrise. My unexpected visitors that day remind me now that busy can hide the lovely. The lovely of the Florida sunrise is always there, but I’m too busy fiddling with Spotify to notice.

One of my lovely moments this weekend was watching my one-year-old son make a mess during mealtime. If I was too concerned with ‘the busy’ of needing to clean up, I would have missed his expression and his joy.

These moments aren’t profound. We are talking about spilt milk here! Honestly, they are pretty plain and most of them happen everyday. Lovely happens during the in-betweens, the cracks of life. These moments are ordinary and normal.

Here’s a quote from the book Sensing Jesus by Zack Eswine. I love how he coaches us to put the focus and joy back into the ordinary.

“What is the heroic moment meant to do but recover the ordinary greatness that God originally intended? … The great triumph of a fictional Superman is to free citizens of Metropolis from evil so that they can work, marry, live, eat, and find meaning. The great triumph of the Greatest Generation was to free the world for a time of tyranny so that people could go back to the blessing and joy of daily life. The true act of heroism in Jesus on the cross and emptying the tomb is to return us to grace of doing life with God in a place with love for our neighbors and finding the enjoyment in that which God created for us. Heroic moments have as their aim the recovery of the ordinary.”

Recovering the ordinary, I love that! Lovely can be the boring, the mess, the laughter, the peace. It’s where this side of heaven collides with our Creator and we see God in the everyday.

Don’t let the busy make you miss that. I’m right there with you, friends. There’s lovely out there; let’s make sure we find it.

This post is inspired by Looking for Lovely by Annie F. Downs. I’ve had the pleasure to be apart of Annie’s launch team for the release of her latest book. Looking for Lovely is about seeing God in the everyday, whether that’s nature, friends, or the face we see in the mirror. Annie has written multiple books, including Let’s Be Brave and Speak Love. Find out more about Annie at anniefdowns.com.