Here are a few definitions I read today:
Ramble:
(noun) a walk without a definite route, taken merely for pleasure.
(verb) to walk for pleasure, typically without a definite route; to wander around in a leisurely, aimless manner.
So, rambling. I can type a definition for you, or I can take you along on today’s ramble:
I’m heading up the mountain on the road less traveled...
and think how much my grandson would love
the dinosaur ice teeth that have grown along the edges.
Change. Relentless. Unstoppable.
In the woodland meadow and in my life. And, in both cases, I can chafe at the changes I don’t like or look for the myriad reasons for gratitude. Today, I’ll choose gratitude for life’s little pleasures, such as...
1. The air is brisk and sharp, and I don’t think the thermometer will hit 20 degrees today. But, the wind isn’t biting today, and the sky is azure, and I’m glad to be outside looking straight up.
Notice, this delicate crystal collection has gathered on the tip on a maple leaf.
But all I can hear at the moment is the sound of my own footsteps, crunch crunching along the frozen path.
I realize something:
If I want to hear an owl, I’m going to have to stop and listen.
I say a little pray, which isn’t very spiritual, something like, “Oh God, I’d really like to hear an owl today...” and although I’ve only once caught a slight glimpse of a shadowy form winging away from me in deep dusk, I add something about seeing one too. “That would really be something, God.”
Just this week, I was walking through the downstairs reading a magazine and not giving any thought to my path because a kitchen remodeling project was in the final stages and the room was completely empty of furniture so the floor could be replaced the next day. Completely empty of furniture, I say, but an immovable roll of floor covering...when I was picking myself up from the floor, I was glad to be mostly intact except for my pride. The next morning, my gratitude list contained a detail that is always true but for which I don’t usually give thanks- “my arm is not broken.”
But it still hurts.
It is a little tricky because when I am walking I can’t hear anything, and I want to keep watching for wildlife, but then I can’t watch my steps!
I am mindful of my feet because I don’t want to fall, of course, (but also because I’m afraid my kids might decide to buy me one of those medical alert systems for seniors if they find out about that kitchen floor dive or today’s treacherous adventure...maybe they won’t read this!)
Once more I pause on the icy path, waiting for another call, looking around for other birds. A chickadee scolds close by, and somewhere to my right a woodpecker is grubbing out a snack before dark. Looking ahead, I wonder about a strange “knob” in a distant tree...which turns out to be...a Great Horned Owl!!
Silently, he glides away, wide beautiful wings angling that large body effortlessly between the trees.
He arcs around me in a huge half circle, then disappears.
and reaches heavenward in heartfelt thankfulness
that God was listening when I prayed,
and I was listening, watching when He answered.