Random musings on my gypsy existence at my house in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me.
As I write this, it’s six o’clock in the morning and I am sitting on the back patio of the Airbnb condo in Winter Park, Colorado, where I am vacationing for a few days with my sons and future daughter-in-law.
We arrived here late yesterday. I haven’t been on vacation with all three of my sons in more than ten years, and I am really looking forward to being together with them along with my middle son Evan’s fiancé Emily, who always lights up whatever room she is in with her smile.
Dawn is breaking over the mountains to the east. The scalloped clouds on the horizon are lit up with a gorgeous crimson glow. I hear the soft mooing of the cows that wander the fenced-in fields around this skiing community. A crow caws as it floats through the windless air above the meadow. Two more crows follow in its wake. They disappear over a line of pines.
Everyone else is still sleeping and I am alone except for a lone mountain chickadee that keeps me company. The chickadee was here when I stepped out onto the patio, perched on the roof singing to the rising morning. He flew off into the meadow to chase bugs but was soon back again, alighting on a nearby chair as if to say there is plenty of room for both of us to be out here to witness the birth of another day.
How I love the mornings! Morning reminds us that we have another day of life to do whatever it is we were put on this earth to do. We all have a mission and a set of unique set of talents and gifts with which to achieve that mission. We just need to discover that mission and believe in our own ability and God-given right to go after it.
For me, my gift is writing. I can’t build houses; I can’t engineer bridges and high-rises; I can’t fly airplanes or launch rockets into space; I don’t have the silver tongue needed to be a politician or an entertainer.
I am a word guy, a storyteller. I’m not a very accomplished one, but every day I give it my all. My mission is to somehow capture and express, in written words, the splendor, beauties, and mysteries of this world, and sing lustily of them like the mountain chickadee.
Today, I want to sing of the glory of this morning that is opening up in front of my eyes, and how grateful I am to be able to be a witness to it. My words are not adequate to capture the beauty of what I am seeing, but they are all I have. So I give them to you, such as they are.
You are not sitting beside me here, but you, too, have a morning that is opening like a flower in front of your eyes. You, too, have another day of wonder and possibility ahead of you. A day to make another chip at your own mission, whatever it may be.
You, too, have birds singing somewhere nearby hoping you will join them in giving praise to this morning. Your voice, your gifts, are vitally important to the unfolding of this day. Don’t discount them.
Wait! At this moment, a V-line of Canada geese is flying over the meadow, honking as they go. The sun has broken through the clouds. The rugged mountains stand revealed in the wash of the light. I can see a couple patches of snow on Mount Jasper.
I wish you were here with me. But then, you are here. We are all part of the community of life on this earth: human, animal, vegetable. Our illusion of separateness is just that—an illusion.
Let us join together to give praise to the birth of another day.
Very nice Jim. Such a peaceful soliloquy well said. I share your interest in putting thoughts to words, but, as an engineer, I build things as well. It's a nice combination of talent that has taken me quite a few years to acquire. And, as each year goes by, these talents seem to improve with age...
Nice piece, Jim! My late father, an amateur ornithologist, would give you props for using the correct term "Canada geese" (not "Canadian," as too many people say).😉
How beautiful!! Brought tears Memories of gorgeous sunrises at the shore every year, the camping trips to rhe Great Tetons, Glacier, the Smokey Mountains and more. Thanks for sharing!