beauty is...

Saturday was picture perfect for a State Cup tournament. The most gorgeous fields down in Orem, the weather was a gift we hadn't received in years it seems, surrounded by good friends and family in the parents box, (which could be bad for the wallet if we strayed), and the top notch soccer players we were there to watch. As one of our young men put a goal in from almost half field on a free kick, our mouths hung open. We've seen him do it before. It's a talent he's been given. Perfect aim, just enough lift to be out of reach for the goalie, then soar down right as it touched the back of the net. Unbelievable.

After that shot, one mom mentioned the Reflections Contest this year is titled 'Beauty is...'

I know to some it may sound so absurd that beauty to me can be found on a soccer field. Maybe one would describe it as intense, exciting, scary, fast, passionate, boring, frustrating, confusing or just somewhere they have to be.

I think it's beautiful.

When a through ball to the corner is placed ever so perfectly, when a header is knocked in from an excellent corner kick, when a keeper jumps up to punch a goal with such power as if to say 'not today', when a defender times the seamless slide tackle (leaving a forward frustrated out of their mind), when the textbook 'give and go' results in a point for my team, or when two young boys jump into each others arms because the two of them, together, just whipped up something magical with their feet.

It is beauty.

A few weeks ago, I went to a game of Carters, stressed beyond measure. I probably needed to be 20 other places right then. But there was NO WHERE I would have rather been. As I sat there, something inside me switched. Stress turned to joy, and for a brief hour, things were beautiful again. Beauty is watching your children. Watching them play, dance, sing, run, jump, fall, cry, laugh, smile, frown, sleep, succeed, fail, and grow.

Watching our children in every moment, can be just what the doctor ordered.

(Or the doctor could order a little Five Guys....my first trip, on the picture perfect Saturday, was just as good as everyone told me it would be!)

Good Luck to our USA Rebels tonight, as they compete in the quarter final match of the Utah State Cup.

It's going to be hard, cold, wet and beautiful.