As if nothing had happened. Unmoved, the weather showed itself from its best side the next morning. As if it had never been otherwise. The sun was mute and steady, and the clouds had parted. Still, it had changed something. It had lost its naturalness and was cause for joy, even if it was just a small smile or an informal, exuberant greeting. “Look, the clouds have cleared,” was heard everywhere. “And the sun is shining,” it sounded from another side. “It’s a greeting that should touch us, because it can also be very different from how we experienced it,” said another thoughtfully. And it was. If you strip away the self-evidence, the unconditional expectation, then you find joy again about things that you might otherwise not have noticed.
We set off together, walking down the main street that I had already inspected the night before. The picture had changed. The evening conveys a different mood than the morning. The morning, bathed in the soft glow of the sun that set out like us, is a promise and an offer. What will it bring us, this day? What will we see on our way? Let’s just get involved, each for itself, and yet together.
Together we grasped this gift, which also means this new day. Sleep had embraced us and released us again. Not even that goes without saying. Sometimes someone gets kept in their sleep. The new day is no longer for him, and every time the embrace dissolves and we are presented with this new thing as a gift, it is like a small new beginning in the middle of life. How much are we giving away if all we can do with knowing this is whine and moan? “It’s just another sham,” I’m then told, or “What can only be good on a Monday – any other day of the week can also be used if you like?” But the day itself, each one of them, no matter how we classify him, the potential to be the best of our lives, but if we alone dismiss the possibility, then he most certainly will not. The day itself only carries the potential. Whether we use it or not is entirely up to us. No one is responsible for this except ourselves. But maybe it’s just easier to get involved if nothing else demands and nothing weighs you down, when you’re far away from all obligations. An exceptional situation when you step out of everyday life, but what prevents you from taking this experience with you. Even if it’s just a small part of it, we’ve already gained a lot. A little happiness and a little more confidence in the midst of a world that has lost confidence and no longer believes in happiness because it believes that happiness must always be big and overwhelming and breathtaking. But it isn’t. It can be small and inconspicuous, like the flower peeping through between the blades of grass and only seen if you take your time and look very closely.
Together we started a new path that none of us had walked before. And we started it, openly and full of confidence, each for himself and everything together. The beginning was promising. And as we entered the church, from the light into the twilight, delicately flooded by the colors of the painted windows, which the sun also brought to life, from warm to cool, from openness to home, expressing our joy and our confidence lend, with you, that is more than everything. And then the joy and confidence were again embraced and strengthened by something bigger, taking and living. Invitation and request in one. Another approach to happiness.
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