Just for Today
October 13, 2024
Just for today, let me sit in the quiet and watch the fog dance in the light of the rising sun. Let the only disturbance be the splash of a fish, jumping from the water.
Just for today, let me watch the Franklin’s gulls, lifting as one from the water, moving in spirals up and down the lake, wings flickering through golden light as they land.
Just for today, let me listen to the screech of the Caspian tern as he surveys the lake. Let me watch him circle, dive, shake it off, and dive again.
Just for today, let me sit where I can hear the wings of a flock of gulls as they land and take off again. Let me scan the flock, carefully looking for a bird that looks a little different, just like the game I loved in Highlight’s magazine when I was a kid.
Just for today, let the kingfisher fly in circles around me while she shakes that rattle she hides in her throat.
Just for today, let me watch the crows exploring the water’s edge and looking for a hawk to chase.
Just for today, let me stand still as the deer crosses my path in the earliest morning light. Let me whisper, “thank you”, so quietly it doesn’t startle him and allow him to slowly meander on his way.
Just for today, let me watch the flickers flying back and forth between the trees, bright flashes of yellow as they go. Let me listen to the meadowlark singing from the top of a tree before she leaves for winter.
Just for today, let me watch the egrets circle overhead, spreading their enormous white wings and looking every bit the part of a prehistoric angel.
Just for today, let me watch the small birds of fall flitting around in the bushes. Yellow-rumped warblers, ruby-crowned kinglets, Nashville warbler, chipping sparrow, cardinals, catbirds, robins, blue jays, and the other birds on their way south or arriving in their winter home.
The world wants so many things. There are chores to do, work to be done, so many places to give and help and hold compassion. Just for today, let me simply be in the quiet and watch the world go by.
May there be space in your week to just be.
You are a gifted thinker & writer & photographer. The commingling of the fog and Sunrise image would have been enough ( Dayenu) but you give us so much more. Thank you Karen for selflessly sharing your gifts.
Ah , October 8, just for that day, a Monet Sunrise. Somewhere in the United States, and just for me on my birthday.
( and whomever else that would like to enjoy it). Thanks for finding it for me ;).