Embracing Awe: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Christmas can be a complicated time. For many, there is a delicate dance between joy and grief. Yet, in weariness, there exists an invitation to experience awe. This year is different for my family – the first Christmas without my grandmothers. Amidst the complexities, I want to share a little about my maternal grandmother, Grandma Jo, our family’s Christmas queen.

Grandma Jo poured magic into our holidays. Traveling from Tennessee to Iowa, my family’s arrival was filled with joy – blue Christmas lights illuminating her home, arms open, and excited “Hello!”s. The entrance into her home was a child’s dream with jars filled with cookies and candy and pies cooling on the stovetop. But the real magic unfolded in the early mornings. Ordinary details, a granddaughter, and her grandmother in quiet moments felt anything but ordinary. I felt love in every part of my body - from the smell of my grandma’s coffee to the touch of her pink fleece blanket, to watching the sun rising over an Iowa field after harvest time and the Christmas lights in her living room, and to the comfortable, safe silence. 

In a New York Times article, titled How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health, Hope Reese explores how awe is not confined to grand events but is accessible in ordinary moments. The physiological impact of awe, releasing oxytocin, the "love" hormone, is a testament to its effects on well-being. Those moments with Grandma Jo, simple yet filled with awe, reinforce for me that cultivating awe is within our grasp.

You don’t need to passively wait for something amazing to happen. Start by paying attention. Try a daily practice of noting what amazes you. Witnessing small gestures of kindness invites awe into your life. It’s about opening yourself to the extraordinary in the ordinary.

It’s going to be a strange Christmas knowing that there isn’t Grandma Jo somewhere quietly sitting with a cup of coffee and looking at twinkling lights. And somehow, miraculously, in my cup of coffee, in a weary world, something extraordinary is there, if I stay open to a love that surpasses time and space. 

Won’t you join me in being amazed? Embrace the awe that comes from paying attention to the ordinary and the extraordinary. I hope that this season offers you a world where the ordinary is infused with the extraordinary. In finding awe, may you discover a profound appreciation for the beauty that surrounds you.