Chasing the Golden Hour

I stopped at the corner store this morning for nothing more than a carton of milk and a newspaper. The sidewalk was crowded, and everyone seemed to be walking with their heads down, checking phones or rushing toward the next task. I was doing the same until I turned the corner and saw a patch of yellow leaning against the brick wall. They were just flowers, tall and reaching, but they looked so stubborn in their brightness against the grey concrete. I stood there for a minute, letting the people push past me, just watching the way the petals caught the sun. It is strange how we spend so much of our lives looking at the ground, worried about where our feet are landing, that we miss the things that are actually trying to grow right beside us. When was the last time you stopped walking just because something looked beautiful?

This reminds me of the image Freedom and Happiness by Jose Juniel Rivera-Negron. He managed to find that same kind of quiet, radiant joy in the middle of a busy day. Does this scene make you want to slow down a little, too?