The Symphony of the Five Senses: Finding the Divine in the Everyday

We often say we are "blessed," but how often do we count the specific ways? I look at my three children and realize that God’s grace started with the basics: ten fingers, ten toes, and five open windows to the world.

Of course, once we realize our children can see and hear perfectly, we move on to the great parental mysteries, like why they can see a tiny toy from across the yard but can’t see the neon-bright towel that’s been living on their bedroom floor for a week. Or why their hearing is sharp enough to catch a candy wrapper crinkling in the kitchen, yet they are remarkably "deaf" to the phrase, “Please clean your room.”

But lately, I’ve stopped laughing long enough to really think about these gifts. We focus so much on sight and sound, yet the other three senses touch, smell, and taste; are the silent threads that sew our memories together.

The Hidden Language of the Soul

We joke about losing our sense of taste (which might just be a convenient excuse for a bad dinner) or our sense of smell (a blessing if you own a cat). We laugh about being "out of touch" with reality. But when you slow down, you realize these senses aren't just biological functions. They are the ways we experience love.

Science tells us that when one sense fades, the others sharpen to compensate. It’s a beautiful metaphor for resilience. But I believe that even when our senses are perfectly intact, they are constantly working together to build a library of "favorites" that define our lives.

A Gallery of Graces

If you sat down today to curate a gallery of your life using only your five senses, what would be on the walls? What would play through the speakers? When I look at my own life, the "sweetness" isn't found in the big achievements, but in the sensory snapshots:

• Sight: The breathtaking, terrifying, and miraculous moment I saw the faces of my three children for the very first time.

• Hearing: The heavy, sacred silence of a deep woods snowstorm, where you can actually hear the "hiss" of giant snowflakes caught in the naked branches of a maple tree.

• Smell: The nostalgic perfume of a late-fall campfire with the scent of burning oak and the faint, singed smell of my own tennis shoes as I got a little too close to the warmth.

• Taste: That first sip of bold, dark coffee on a morning when the clock doesn't matter and there is nowhere else I need to be.

• Touch: The soft, damp, bumbling "baby-kiss" from Casey, Taylor, and Emilee Rose. Truly, is there anything on this earth more healing than that?

  
  

The Sixth Sense

Perhaps the greatest gift is the "sixth sense", the heart’s ability to recognize these moments while they are happening.

The next time you’re frustrated by a towel on the floor or a child who isn't listening, take a breath. Smelling the air, hearing the chaos, and feeling the floor beneath your feet is a reminder that you are alive, you are blessed, and you are exactly where you are meant to be.

Take a moment today: What is one "sensory memory" from your week that made you stop and smile?