Dawn 1. To begin to become light in the morning, 2. To begin to appear or develop; emerge, 3. To begin to be perceived or understood.

When I was little my nana said to me “Dawn is the best part of the day. She was so right! There is something quite magical about the stillness, calmness and wonderment at the beginning of a new day. As the sun peeks through the horizon it sparkles and smiles on our landscape and gives us the nod to wake up and go forward.

This week we were blessed to show some amazing friends around our city. They had not been to Christchurch since Mother Nature started her party in 2010. We shared hugs, tears, and stories of horror and survival. We drove around and stood by the iron fences and signs of Extreme Danger – Do Not Enter. We stood arm in arm in silence remembering those who had lost their lives and those that were still piecing their lives back together. In that moment it was almost unbelievable what we were going through. My friend looked at me and said “You guys are a part of world history. But it is like a War, even worse than War. You have no reliable intelligence, you can’t plan your attack. You have no idea when the next attack is coming and that must take incredible strength”. I stood there and blinked silent tears, as they fell on the pavement, it dawned on me and I remembered what Nana said! “Tomorrow is a new day so as long as the sun comes up we have hope”.

At that moment a bird flew through a glassless window. I blinked and refocused and looked up and down the street; more birds appeared, trees appeared, flowers poked through the gaps. We continued around our city of ruins but my view had changed, in that one moment it was like a daytime dawn. Through the stillness, calmness of our broken city nature had kept going. I saw a different city full of magic; there were flowers, plants, grass, trees, birds, bees and it was beautiful. It is a city full of wonderment.

Sometimes we just need to see things in a different light. Sometimes we need to have the patience to see what appears and emerges. Then there will be a time for new understanding and new perceptions.

Thank you Nana for teaching me the power of every dawn and thank you to J & S for sharing with us this week xx