Welcome to My Lovely Common Life
In Louisa May Alcott’s short story “Marjorie’s Three Gifts”, little Marjorie, upon the eve of her twelfth birthday, is gifted a tin money bank and told a fairytale by her Granny. The tale includes newfound wealth, unending happiness, and a prince to sweep her off her feet to his kingdom far away from the shabby little cottage in which she and her grandmother dwell.
On her birthday the following morning, separate encounters with three people– a strange little man, a kind lady, and a childhood friend–teach Marjorie how the gifts of industry, cheerfulness, and love are always within reach and available in ways she has never considered.
Without spoiling too many details of this sweet story (you really must read it for yourself if you have not yet done so!), I’ll only hint at a moment when the kind lady offers the child a beautiful painting of her cottage and the following words to teach Marjorie to see the sunnier side of her situation:
“For it is amazing how lovely common things become, if one only knows how to look at them”.
Today’s world of media, status, influencers, platforms, and comparisons is stealing the joys of ordinary everyday life. Interestingly, the struggle is no different now than in Marjorie’s time. The opening lines of the story state the girl is “quite unconscious what a pretty picture she made” because her thoughts are far away, wishing for the fairy-tale.
May we not miss the beauty in our own days, in our own common things, while pining for something else. The common things in our lives which seem mundane or dusty can be quite lovely if we only change the way we look at them and, as the kind lady advised, find the sunny side to everything. I hope this little space will be an encouragement in doing just that!
Welcome to my blog and welcome to my lovely common life!
