When the mundane and the glitz come at you in one combined image, it jars the psyche. This time was no different. However, the encountered objects of the mundane and the glitz were.

As I donned my running gear and hit the trail early on New Year’s Eve morning, I thought about how I’d devoured more food than I should have eaten over the past week of Christmas celebration. Lamenting the impact of my actions upon my life-long exercise of choice, I jolted to a halt by what I saw at my feet. It wasn’t animal excrement. Fortunately that issue had been greatly reduced by the newly installed doggie depositories placed throughout the neighborhood by the local Homeowner’s Association. (Thank goodness!) Nor was the halting moment charmed by the discovery of a twenty dollar bill. Although I had found dollar bills and many coins over the course of multiple decades of puttering along the path of wherever I happened to be. No, this was a much greater treasure than a monetary find.

The unexpected glow of the abstract relief on the square of cement at my feet consumed my attention and I abruptly skid to a halt. An amorphous puddle of silver sparkle lay spewed across the non-descript grey stone ground. A rainbow of colors sparkled and dazzled as the rays of the bright early morning sunshine spotlighted the glitter splattered before me. Stunned by the effervescence of this sight against the contrasting drab cement that framed the glitter, made me think of the old year fading and giving credence and support for the New Year ahead.

The past year of 2015 had been a very good one overall, celebrating family, friends, travel, reading, writing, work and home!

What would the new year of 2016 bring?

Clearly, the unknown is always shrouded with a certain amount of angst and fear. Yet, the unusual spatter of silver, molded into an incongruous mass spoke loudly on this nostalgic final day in this time and place.

We don’t know what lies ahead, but living many decades of life assured me that adequate strength and tools would be there when needed.

The non-descript and indefinite can have a silvery lining, one that glows and reflects elements of unknown beauty and pleasure. Through faith and inner strength the glitz in the mundane, and even the pain can be found.