Glimmers
In February, right around the time that Lent started, I added a new habit to my nightly
routine. I was scrolling on TikTok when I came across this idea of a “glimmer.” A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. It’s a little moment that puts a smile on your face, a little moment of awe, something that makes you feel hope. Every night since I watched that video, I’ve taken five minutes to go back through my day and write down every glimmer I encountered. Some days there are so many glimmers!
A few glimmers I experienced last week: a new coffee shop in Bettendorf was giving out free unlimited coffee! I got new running shoes! I finished a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle! I started a new audiobook that’s really good! On other days, there aren’t so many glimmers, and my glimmers sound like: The sun was shining or my dog, Gracie, didn’t have an accident inside!
Through this practice and reflection, I’ve come to the realization that there are numerous amounts of good things to notice every single day. Big or small, there are constant glimmers happening around us.
I like to imagine that as we move through each ordinary day, God looks at each one of us and sees beauty. God sees us as glimmers.
Perhaps this is what it means to live with eyes wide open. To train our hearts to notice how God has always been moving in our world. Every glimmer, every small and shining moment, is God’s fingerprints on what seems like an ordinary day. And if we can learn to see these glimmers, maybe we can begin to understand how God sees us: not as a crowd, not as a label, but as an individual, an irreplaceable light in the world.
Each one of us a glimmer God notices, delights in, and refuses to look away from. We are God’s moments of joy. We are the beauty God pauses to take in. We are children of God, wholly and dearly loved. And that, perhaps, is the most beautiful thing of all.
