I'm a leaf on the wind.

I used to be consumed by envy and longing.

You know how it is. You see a happy couple or even a group of friends and you bitterly think "Why can't that be me?"

When I go to the park I usually spread my blanket out in a big circle of trees. There's gaps in the trees and picnic tables scattered through the grass; there's a good view of the park but also a sense of seclusion and solitude.

On Wednesday, a young couple had pulled one of the picnic tables into the shelter of the trees and hid there behind low-hanging branches. Through one of the breaks in the treeline I could see a group of teenagers playing frisbee. Through another, parents and children on the playground.

I felt blessed.

In a world with so much ugliness, I had the privilege of witnessing these moments of beauty. And perhaps someone was witnessing my own moment of beauty, stretched out on my blanket, savoring the sun and my book.

We quest for love. We yearn for it, thirst for it. We long to be part of something beautiful.

We ARE part of something beautiful. Look at the people around you. I look at my incredible sister, my friends, my beautiful nieces. All the people who bless my life. I'm a part of them, just as they're a part of me. What's more beautiful than that?