Venice? No, Kansas City. Surprised? So was I when I discovered this charming neighborhood. Yes, it is true—this gorgeous setting is in the heart of America. It’s as beautiful as the gondolas in Italy, and almost identical to the River Seine in Paris, with its walkways and bridges. How nice to know such beauty exists so close to home. What else is going on right in our neighborhood or home or loved one’s life, the richness of which we might be missing?

A few years ago, while sleeping on the top of a houseboat on Lake Powell, far away from any city lights, I laid awake every night watching the stars for a long, long time. Every few minutes, I witnessed the thrill of a shooting star dashing across the magnificent Milky Way. I could hardly close my eyes, not wanting to miss the show.

But what I was most amazed with was another phenomenon in that starry night sky. As I stared for long moments at a time at what I thought were golden or white stars, I saw them changing colors, like a rainbow. The longer I stared into the white and gold, the more colors I saw. At first, I saw the twinkle of red, then as I stared longer, I saw orange, then blue, green, purple, all the colors coming to life, one by one. The longer I looked at the white and gold stars, the more I saw colors pulsating from them. Why had I never noticed this before?

The colorful starry show so impressed me that I could not get the idea out of my mind for days—the idea that the longer I watched, looked, studied the obvious, the more beautiful they became. While the brilliant colors of stars had always been there, until I set my unrushed gaze upon them, I did not see their depth of color. What was the deeper message?

We are spiritual beings, living in physical bodies, and yet, so much of our lives is the process of looking ‘at’ things, not looking deeply and spiritually ‘into’ things. Looking ‘at’ life, we only see the skin, the covering. Looking ‘into’ life, we see the colors sparkling. How easily do we forget that we are beings of spirit, and that beautiful and powerful spirit is all around us waiting to serve and bless, making life full of all kinds of loving goodness.

If you are the least bit unsatisfied with anything about your life, I ask you to look deeper, please. There is so much beauty right in front of your eyes, right now, and it has always been so. Whenever you are feeling out of alignment with the spirit of joy, love, peace, etc, you are looking ‘at’ life, at the appearance of people and experiences, missing the beauty that lies deeply ‘within’.

C. S. Lewis’s rich words from ‘The Weight of Glory’ express the truth in this way: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” I appreciate his foresight, but suggest the truth of this message is more like this: if you could look into the soul of the most uninteresting person you know, you would indeed be filled with awe and gratitude at their true greatness and glory, now.

Everyone and everything has a blessing for us, a gift of spirit. I once stared into a leaf of an ivy plant on my porch, gazing, lost in my daydreaming for a long time. In a little while, a most euphoric feeling came over me, kind of like a shot of endorphins rushing through my body. Though done in complete ignorance of the power of such, my deeper soul had connected with perfect godliness in that ivy leaf, which blessed me with an unexpected yet radiant dose of joy.

Spirit is alive, vibrating all around you, now. Take the time to look ‘into’ the beauties right in front of you—look into the stars, into the plants, and into the faces of life happening all around you—it’s your life. May you live ‘in’ it very well.