“To Love this World” Finding God in Every Beautiful Moment
Take a deep breath. Can you feel it?
Remember the moment you first learned a new life was beginning—the overwhelming joy when a couple discovers they're expecting, their hearts suddenly expanding to hold a love they've never known. The anticipation building through each doctor's visit, studying those grainy ultrasound images as if they were the most beautiful art ever created. The careful preparation, the dreams whispered in quiet moments, the way time seemed both to crawl and fly toward that sacred day.
Then the rush to the hospital, walking through those bright, welcoming corridors that have witnessed countless miracles. And finally—that breathtaking moment when new life emerges into the world, when tiny fingers curl around yours for the first time, when you hold that perfect, beautiful newborn and understand that you are witnessing the very act of creation itself. What an experience! What a gift beyond measure!
And yet, this miracle of new life is just one of countless sacred moments that surround us each day. The soft scent of freshly cut grass dancing on the breeze. The golden warmth of morning sunlight painting everything it touches. The symphony of children's laughter—perhaps including that very child you once held as a newborn—echoing through the air like music. An elderly couple walking hand in hand, their steps unhurried, their love deepened by decades and perhaps grandchildren who carry their legacy forward.
These aren't mere background details of our hurried lives. They are love letters from God -sacred gifts wrapped in ordinary moments, quiet whispers of the divine that too often go unheard as we rush through our days.
The Sacred Duty of Wonder
The Talmud Yerushalmi teaches us something profound: "In the future world, a person will be held accountable for every good thing their eyes saw, but from which they did not benefit." This isn't a burden—it's an invitation. We are not merely meant to survive in this world; we are called to fall in love with it, to drink deeply from the well of beauty that God has placed before us at every turn.
Every sunrise is a daily miracle we've grown accustomed to. Every flower blooming in defiance of concrete and chaos. Every moment of human kindness witnessed in a world that can feel harsh—these are not accidents. They are intentional acts of divine love, placed specifically for our souls to discover and cherish.
Wisdom from Those Who Saw
Rabbi Akiva, the great sage whose light still illuminates our path centuries later, once paused during a walk with his students to admire a single wildflower swaying in a field. While his companions continued ahead, focused on their destination, he lingered. When they asked why he had stopped, he replied with words that still resonate: "Every detail of creation, no matter how small, is a reflection of God’s infinite love. This flower is not merely growing—it is speaking."
That tiny flower was his teacher, reminding him that we are perpetually surrounded by the presence of the Divine, if only we cultivate the wisdom to slow down and truly see.
Rebbe Zusha of Anipoli, who owned almost nothing by the world's standards, radiated a joy so pure it drew people from distant villages just to witness it. When asked how he could be so luminously happy with so little, he would point to dewdrops catching the morning light on garden leaves. "God didn't have to make the rain beautiful," he would say, his eyes twinkling with wonder, "but He did—because He wanted to give us joy." His secret was not in acquiring more, but in seeing more deeply.
Light in the Darkness
This ancient wisdom speaks to our modern hearts as well. Liz Murray found herself homeless at fifteen, sleeping on subway benches and scraping together meals from whatever she could find. In those darkest moments, when hope seemed like a luxury she couldn't afford, something extraordinary happened. She began to notice the beauty that persisted even in her pain.
The way sunlight filtered through subway grates and touched her skin like a blessing. The genuine smile of a stranger who saw her as human rather than invisible. The profound peace that could be found in moments of silence amidst the urban chaos.
Those tiny, overlooked moments became her lifeline. They didn't change her circumstances immediately, but they changed her heart. She discovered that even in the depths of struggle, the world was still offering her gifts. She graduated high school while homeless and earned a full scholarship to Harvard—not just because she was brilliant, but because she had learned to see light in the darkness and love the world even when it seemed broken.
The Divine Invitation
To love the world is to accept God’s standing invitation to wonder. It means choosing to open our eyes beyond the surface of things. To pause when the butterfly lands on our windowsill. To feel the ocean breeze carry away our worries, if only for a moment. To breathe in the sweet scent of rain on dry earth and recognize it as a prayer answered.
These are not small things disguised as big things—they are profound gifts disguised as ordinary moments.
When we step outside today, let us make a sacred choice. Instead of rushing past the beauty that surrounds us, let us receive it. Let us notice the way light plays on water, the sound of wind through trees, the countless small miracles that make up the fabric of each day.
A Question That Awaits
The sages teach us that one day, we will be asked to give an account of our lives. Among those questions will be this: "Did you enjoy the beauty I sent you? Did you feel My presence in the world I created specifically for your soul to inhabit and love?"
May we be able to answer with full hearts: "Yes. I saw the sunrises You painted for me. I felt Your presence in every act of kindness I witnessed. I heard Your voice in the laughter of children and the whisper of wind through leaves. I loved it all—the light and the shadow, the ordinary and the extraordinary. I received Your gifts with gratitude, and they changed me."
In learning to love the world, we learn to love its Creator. In seeing beauty everywhere, we develop eyes that can see the sacred in all things. This is not just wisdom—it is the very purpose for which we were given sight, breath, and beating hearts.
Take a deep breath.
Open your eyes.
The love letters are everywhere, waiting to be read.