This morning is almost too beautiful to take in. It’s cold - in the 30s, but yesterday was warm, last night it rained, and this morning is crisp and misty at the same time. Everything is fresh and glowing. Everything that is except the dead squirrel that I’ve come across early in my walk. I’m fascinated by it – I’ve never seen a baby squirrel before. Its tail is about 3” long. I wonder, ‘did it get adventuresome and fall from its tree home or was it forcibly taken by whatever has started to prepare it for a meal’?

I’m also awed by the way God works. For the last few days every time I see a squirrel, I have been thinking that I’ve never seen a baby one; and now, I have come along at just the right time. While it would have been fun to see it alive, I have a better chance to study it this way. It also is a shared moment with God as we together mourn over one of His. I leave it where it is – I’ve probably interrupted something that can be finished when I move on.

It’s so quiet and peaceful, occasionally the stillness is broken by various birds, but it is not a disturbing, intrusive noise, it is a part of the place and the morning. Several feet ahead two deer come onto the path. They are unaware of us they stand and look toward the highway. I pray that they don’t go toward the road, they continue to stand, so still. Then Tory barks, their heads go straight up, noses pointed toward the sky, they turn and leap back through the marsh to the field and safety. A Kodak moment—but no camera, recorded only on the film of my memory.

On nice Saturday mornings we walk a little farther, there is a more leisurely feel to a Saturday walk, the highway is much quieter, and it is a time to be savored. There are frequent little splashes in the water and then a small ring becomes bigger as it ripples outward, reminding me that many of the things I do can cause a ripple effect also.

As we turn toward home we face directly into the glorious sunshine and it is breathtaking this morning. Every branch, leaf, weed, blossom and blade of grass is dotted with jewels of moisture and they sparkle and take on a totally new look. The intricacy of spider webs is outlined in the same fashion. I marvel at the beauty of these finespun masterpieces; and I think that the spider never really gets to see the beauty it creates – they can’t stand back and admire their work. They just go about doing their God-given task. There is a lesson here. How often do we want to stand back and admire what we are doing for God. We must be content to do what He bids knowing we won’t get to see the tapestry we have woven together until we are home with Him.

I am richer for this time with Him. I have learned lessons. I have walked with Jesus and we have enjoyed the world that was created by God.