The Things We Almost Miss

Maybe not everyone would see a little creature in the melted wax of a candle.

Maybe they wouldn't have the time.

Or perhaps they simply wouldn't think to look.

But there it was.

Created slowly, almost unnoticed, by heat and time. A little creature appearing where there had only been a candle.

I love these small accidents of beauty.

The things that happen around us without announcing themselves.

A strange shape in the clouds.The particular colour of the evening light.The first coolness in the wind that tells you summer is beginning to let go.The sound of birds changing with the season.A friend whose energy feels different before they have said a word.

None of these things are spectacular.

They don't demand our attention.

And perhaps that is exactly why we miss them.

We are so often somewhere else.

Thinking about what happened yesterday.Planning what needs to happen tomorrow.Answering messages. Making lists. Moving from one thing to the next.

Even when we are sitting still, our minds are often running ahead of us.

But every now and then, something catches your eye.

A little shape in melted wax.

And you stop.

You look again.

And suddenly there is something there that you hadn't noticed before.

Maybe magic isn't something extraordinary after all.

Maybe it is simply what becomes visible when we are present enough to see it.

How many beautiful things pass us every day because we are too busy looking for something bigger?

Perhaps we don't need to search harder.

Perhaps we just need to slow down enough to notice what is already there.

And sometimes...

all it takes is a candle. 🕯️