I saw them the other day, and it was like I had new eyes – fields and fields of wildflowers, growing just beside the roads I drive all the time. Queen Anne’s Lace and Black Eyed Susans. Cornflowers sprouting from gravel and dancing in the whish of passing tires. New eyes . . . it felt like I had new eyes.
© 2011 Joel Olives, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio
Monday, I stop moving and sit down on the porch steps. Stare off into the distance. Watch the chickens bob and weave along the grass. Something in me opened up.
Yesterday, on my writing blog, I wrote about my antsiness, about how I feel like something is coming. . . about my urge to take action when what really feels right is to sit back.
And today, as the day comes at me slower, I realize that what may be coming is a peace, that deep sense of knowing it’s all okay. That there is no hurry to do all now. That time is opportunity, not burden.
Peace floods into me when I breath, when I slow down, when I take the time to pet each goat from nose to tip and allow the tiny ones to come to me when they are ready. It settles into my throat when I hold rumbling kittens against me and watch them play with the simple joy of string. I feel it pass through my fingers as I stroke Meander’s satin ears and watch Emily – our fattest cat – sleep under the table. It comes in puppy tongues and muzzles all doused with fresh water. From a garden well-weeded, a husband busy in his new shop.
But I miss it when I breeze along, my face to my phone, a screen in my way. I love the world this screen brings me – the way it ties me to all of you – but it also brings so much noise, noise I need to step back from.
So I am stepping back. . . . taking my evenings for this place, for conversations with you when you stop by – oh, and we do hope you stop by – for thread woven into fabric and puzzle pieces tapped into place.
Because really, I don’t want to miss those wildflowers anymore. Never again.
What do you notice about this beautiful world when you can slow down to see it? I’d love to hear.
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for supporting our dreams here, for living into this place with us. So I’m giving away a few things – editing of your written work, a free seat at the Writer’s Retreat, a copy of The Slaves Have Names, or a written tribute to someone you love. Just choose your entry options below – including the option to just leave a message on someone’s FB wall – or call them with a kind word, write them a note, give them a hug – and enter away. And feel free to share with anyone you’d like. THANK YOU for all the ways you love on us.
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