random sightings of new life
So, I started this post last Friday, and I never got back to it. I guess started isn't the right word, as all I really did was put a title out there. But there was an idea behind the title, and I'm thinking the idea might have faded a little bit by now.Last Friday morning I was on my way to the office, and I noticed a small group of people gathered around one of the enormous stone planters that lines Main St. of downtown. So, of course, like any normal, breathing human being, I wondered what was going on. I was already headed that direction anyway, sort of ... so I just took a small detour to allow my nosey self to surface and find out what these people were looking at. Well, the detour was worth the 2 minutes it cost me. As I drew closer to the planter, I spotted a cute little fuzzy duckling. At first I thought there was just somehow 1 little duckling hiding there among the plants ... but then I saw the momma. The momma duck who was birthing a few more cute little ducklings. Imagine, me stumbling along the sidewalk on my way to the office, thinking only of my coffee and the boring day that awaits me ... and being interrupted by this miracle of life, happening right in front of me. Ok, so maybe it was only a bird and some little baby birds ... but it was amazing. And I got to see it. I mean, how often do we really stop and stare at the wonder of this thing called life? How often do we get our eyes off ourselves enough to realize that there is new life all around us ... either in the form of fuzzy baby ducks, or in the form of people who are experiencing the new existence that comes from realizing there's something more than this crazy world that we tromp around in? Not often enough ... at least in my case.
One of the people standing by the planter was a city maintenance guy, and I asked him what they would do now with the ducks. He said he was going to pretend for a few days that he didn't see them, because basically otherwise his job would be to remove the animals from the planter and put them in a more "safe" environment. He smiled as he said to me, "they deserve a little time to get used to things, don't you think? No sense in rushing them." Wisdom from the lips of a guy whose job it is to sweep cigarette butts off the sidewalk and drive one of those goofy-looking sidewalk plows in the winter. I agreed with him, thinking about how often we are in such a hurry to get moving with things.
When we're kids, we can't wait until we're teens ... when we're teens, we can't wait to go to college ... in college, we obsess about our future careers or our future spouses ... when we get married or get into a career, we constantly think of the "next step" ... Should I have kids? How many kids should I have? How can I get promoted? When can I retire? Maybe we should instead think about getting used to things, where we're at. Look around you, and enjoy the shade of the plants in the enormous stone planter where you found new life. No sense in rushing things.
1 Comments:
how beautiful! don't you just love it when those life moments pop up on you? and when ordinary people speak simple wisdom on top of it...
when i was little, my mom, sister and i would drive past a sheep farm on our way to church. one easter sunday, we drove past and saw a momma sheep about to give birth. we watched her as long as we could, but soon had to move on so as not to be late. on the way back from church, we stopped again... and there she laid by the fence, a freshly born black lamb and a white lamb by her side. it was so symbolic, so perfect, and we were probably the only ones experiencing that moment at that point in time. thanks, God!
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