Pineapple Fields in Maui

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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Saarah Hamayun I once saw a captivating photograph of a pineapple field in Maui, a beautiful island in Hawaii. For a long time after I dreamt of living there and eating papayas for breakfast, wandering through lush forests, and stumbling upon mystical waterfalls. I imagined that peace would come easily in a place like that - that it would be simpler to feel grounded and content when the world around me was drenched in colour and light. But the truth was, I lived in a humble corner of Bradford, and I wasn’t moving to Maui any time soon. I realised I couldn’t withhold my happiness waiting for some perfect place or perfect life. I had to learn to see the beauty here. It’s easy to focus on the grey skies, the wail of the sirens and the damp creeping up the old brick walls. But if I look more closely, there’s a lilac evening sky above the terraced houses, the healing smell of toast in the morning, children laughing as they race down the street. The same God who made the waterfalls of Maui made this, too. Perhaps beauty isn’t only found in a tropical paradise, but in the patience to notice what’s already around us. Even the greyest day holds a trace of gold if you pause long enough to see it. I pray that our hearts learn to notice beauty even in seemingly mundane places, to meet the morning not with hurry, but with wonder. Let it remind you, when we look up at the morning sky, that this same beauty stretches above us all, wherever we may be. And may the seemingly ordinary moments, the kettle boiling, the sound of rain, footsteps in the hallway, remind us that life is holy, even when it feels unremarkable. Amen