Noticings of the Week
A familiar deer, Biblical cupcakes, a gorgeous morning, and a geek moment
Not sure if I like the title of this but I feel it reflects more of what I have shared in my other “my week” reflections. They are more than just photographs, but they are what I have noticed - some of which is photographed and some not.
Let’s start with going back to a few weeks before Covid shut everything down. On March 1, 2020, I wrote this about a deer in our neighborhood.
I know not everyone loves deer (especially when they chomp on our flowers or gardens), but this particular doe is a special one. She was injured at some point years ago and continues to walk with a limp. We periodically continue to see her in the neighborhood and we saw her again this week as she was nursing her newest fawn in our backyard.
It just warmed my heart to see her once again and to know that she’s continued to avoid the cars zipping down the streets and other dangers that might be in the area. And this is the fourth fawn we have seen from her, including the one she bedded down near our front door several years ago.
Another noticing is one that didn’t include a photo but instead something I read this morning. I’m reading a book called Life in Five Senses (by Gretchen Rubin) about experiencing our five senses in deeper ways. In the chapter I read this morning about hearing she had this simple line that was a “really?!?!?” for me. She wrote:
...suddenly I realized that the word listen was just a rearrangement of the word silent—remarkably apt. Rubin, Gretchen. Life in Five Senses (p. 84). Crown. Kindle Edition.
I had heard about how “stressed” is “desserts” spelled backwards (and that Britney Spears is an anagram for Presbyterians) but I hadn’t heard this one. There’s some deep truth in the connection between being silent and listening.
A third noticing is a celebration of creativity. My daughter is interning at a local congregation with their children and youth ministries and they had an activity yesterday afternoon about decorating cupcakes. The groups broke into four teams and each was assigned a Bible story that they had to use as inspiration for decorating their cupcakes. The four stories were Creation, The Plagues of Egypt, the Nativity, and Easter. I love what they did! (For some reason, I didn’t get a photo of all the plagues but did get the Nile turning to blood and the locusts...)
Finally, this morning...a long walk at Rowe Woods with Scout...While it was another humid morning (ugh), it was gorgeous. It was cooler than recent days with a light haze and fog settling over everything. I was also the first one to Rowe so it was just beautifully filled simply with the sounds of nature and the pawfalls and footfalls of Scout and I walking. Two moments that really connected with me.
This heron perched up on a tree over the lake. I simply stopped on the boardwalk and took this moment in wishing that I could just as easily get a vantage point like that heron.
The second was one of those moments when I am grateful I stopped to look behind me. But like I wrote a few weeks ago, it was because Scout stopped and started sniffing at something and literally turned me around. The sun meeting the trees and the haze at just the perfect moment.
And finally from this morning...proof that even Creation is asking Marvel to hurry up and integrate the X-Men into the MCU...
As I finish this, I feel the words of Paul from Philippians for in my heart.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9
Those 2 photos are surprises for me too. I love the way nature can surprise and inspire. That's very short winded for me, but that's all I got tonight.