September 1: Ordinary Beauty

At church the upcoming discussion is going to be finding beauty in unusual places.. ordinary beauty that we miss. I like that concept. There are so many things that we miss in the day to day of life that are truly filled with beauty. Unusual beauty.

So for today, September 1st, this is my unexpected beauty. Not for it's form or it's glory... but for what it represents: kindness. See, our washing machine- it's one of those that could probably fly the space shuttle if you asked it nicely. Of course, that means that periodically it begins flashing codes at me- LD, PW, OB, DD. I'm sure they have significance, but at the time I'm too busy kicking the machine and swearing under my breath. Don't get me wrong, it's great that my washing machine can automatically detect if it's being graced with my pink underoos or my kid's stinky football pants... but it's a pain in the kiester when you're trying to figure out what an L5 code means.

So here we are, with no washing machine, in the middle of football season. Ew. I could go to the laundromat... in fact, that's what I planned on doing. It irks me to dish out the money, but it is what it is. Instead, I ended up at my in-laws, doing three loads of much needed laundry today. That's their laundry room. And while some can argue that they're family... of course they should help out- it's still an act of kindness. And kindness, in this world, has a special beauty. their kindness makes this picture beautiful.