Dear friends,
Portals are doorways that take us from one place to another. The Monday after Christmas, December 28, my wife and I, our granddaughter Maddy, stepson Chris, Niceaux the golden retriever and Sassy the corgi decided to take a morning walk on Finlay Road. It’s a quiet section of gravel road between Edison and Victor Point Rd. in eastern Marion County, not too far from where we live.
It turned out the walk was a kind of portal, a doorway. For one thing, there had been a lot of fog and rain for days. But that morning the sun was shining bright, the air was clear, the sky was blue, and the views were spectacular. That’s Maddy and my wife, Patricia, in the photo above at left.
For another thing there was thick frost still on the ground, and in places where shadows prevented the sun from shining, the frost was still thick, but in the shape of the shadow. I had never seen that before.
As we walked along we came to a place where there is a thick stand of timber, Douglas fir I think, on one side of the road. The trees grow so thick there we couldn’t see the sun shining through them. That’s when I saw something else I had never seen before, certainly not this close up: an owl, a large owl. I’m not sure what species. Maybe a western screech owl. Maybe someone can identify it for sure (see photo at lower left).
At first it didn’t look real, it was so still. Then I saw the head move in the particular owl way where they turn their head but the body remains still, and it opened its eyes briefly. It was only about 7 feet off the ground, and sat perfectly still for the pictures we took on our iPhones. It would have been very easy to have walked right past this beautiful creature and not have noticed it at all. But we didn’t, and our walk on a quiet country road on a frosty cold December morning just after Christmas turned out to be a portal to things I had ever seen before, and it that filled me with a sense of wonder.
We went on with our walk toward the top of the next hill, that’s the 1.5 mile mark where we turn around and head back to the car, getting in our 3 miles total. Amazingly the owl was still in exactly the same place, watching as we walked by, our dogs oblivious to its presence.
As we live out the final days of 2020, I am thankful for moments of wonder and beauty that prevail in spite of the difficulties and ugliness we have been living through, and count myself exceedingly blessed to have experienced them. May God continue to bless us all with moments of wonder and beauty when we can simply be thankful for life.
Lord God, help us to appreciate more the wonder and beauty of the earth and the creatures that you have made, and let them be signs of the assurance of your steadfast love for the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pastor Joe Hughes
12/29/2020