Rambling-Ramblings
So I see what I think is a White Heron on the other side of the marsh and I walk in to see it better. About ten steps in I go back to the car to get my wadding boots and begin again.The way is not clear. There are dry and wet patches everywhere with waist-high trees trying to sprout up periodically. I walk through few spider webs and see places where deer have bedded for the night. Hundreds of animal tracks go in all directions. There is no clear trail to follow. Deer, raccoon, turkey, geese, duck, boar, snake and many more have been here before me. I walk up on grassy hills and down through brown streams. The ground is like a sponge. My boots make a squishing then a sucking noise with each step. I move slowly to maintain my balance. The mud does not want to let me go.
I'm deeper in now than I have been before. The lure of new sights has me in its grip and I continue. In the distance I can see the heron but it is like Alice's white rabbit. It eludes me and draws me in deeper. In my race to move toward the heron I wade in where I should not and now I am sinking. I allow my foot to continue sinking, waiting for it to hit bottom. It does not. I begin pulling it out slowly switching my weight to the other foot which now beins to sink also. Cautiously I work my feet loose balancing first on one then on the other. I am not the heron or egret who are built for this kind of balancing act. However, I have been here before and have fallen in before and know that it will all wash out. Just then the heron flies directly over me. I am awestruck because it seems to be only a few feet over my head.
Delighted but determined to continue I un-stick myself and gingerly make my way through the pale green leaves of young trees and over the matted surface of a healthy wetland. I am rewarded. I step out of the underbrush to find myself beside a duck pond. The surface of the water reflects the blue sky. Lily pads blooming with little white flowers seem to float in the clouds. Ducks and egrets are here. Water turtles are here too. I watch a large water turtle lumber across the mud to plop happily into the pond. A breeze, my old friend, sweeps across the pond and presses against me, cooling and refreshing me. The spirit inside me calls out in thanksgiving to God the creator of all things. I throw my arms out and sing, "My God is an awesome god. He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love. My God is an awesome god."
I'm deeper in now than I have been before. The lure of new sights has me in its grip and I continue. In the distance I can see the heron but it is like Alice's white rabbit. It eludes me and draws me in deeper. In my race to move toward the heron I wade in where I should not and now I am sinking. I allow my foot to continue sinking, waiting for it to hit bottom. It does not. I begin pulling it out slowly switching my weight to the other foot which now beins to sink also. Cautiously I work my feet loose balancing first on one then on the other. I am not the heron or egret who are built for this kind of balancing act. However, I have been here before and have fallen in before and know that it will all wash out. Just then the heron flies directly over me. I am awestruck because it seems to be only a few feet over my head.
Delighted but determined to continue I un-stick myself and gingerly make my way through the pale green leaves of young trees and over the matted surface of a healthy wetland. I am rewarded. I step out of the underbrush to find myself beside a duck pond. The surface of the water reflects the blue sky. Lily pads blooming with little white flowers seem to float in the clouds. Ducks and egrets are here. Water turtles are here too. I watch a large water turtle lumber across the mud to plop happily into the pond. A breeze, my old friend, sweeps across the pond and presses against me, cooling and refreshing me. The spirit inside me calls out in thanksgiving to God the creator of all things. I throw my arms out and sing, "My God is an awesome god. He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love. My God is an awesome god."
