I passed one of my favorite spots along the road driving home tonight at dusk. I love this place in the road because it speaks peace and beauty to me.
Just before reaching one of the busiest traffic corridors in our city, there are wetlands. I love it that this bit of wildness exists juxtaposed with urban/suburban development.
If you keep your eyes open, almost always some avian species can be spotted. Tonight, it was a little hard to see because the sun had set, but there was still enough light to spot a lone heron standing where water and reeds meet….on the edge at dusk.
This made me think about another wildlife sighting that I’ve trained myself to seek out. Whenever we happen to be driving along the interstate in the early morning hours when the sun has not long been up, I watch in those places where wooded areas meet open fields. Almost always, somewhere along the way, a white-tail deer or two or three can be spotted, grazing at still-dew-laden green.
It occurred to me that there are some people who are like my heron and the deer. They don’t make themselves vulnerable by being out in the open spaces of life. They don’t invite scrutiny by placing themselves in the intersections of busyness. Much of the time they are hidden to most of the people.
But, if the busy passers by in life know where to look, and how to look, and when, then those people who linger at the edges, who hesitate in the spaces in between, become visible. When those on the edge are seen, there is often surprising beauty in the picture.
I want to notice more on the edge at dusk.
Unlike the deer and the heron, some who are in the edges would like to be noticed and seen for their beauty. If we slow down enough to look, we may be the ones who can help them truly appreciate who they are and help them celebrate their own unique contribution.
One of the places Jon and I went on our visit to WI was Crex Meadows, several hundred acres of wetlands that is accessible on dirt roads and visited by few people. We spent three hours driving slowly, stopping to listen and take pictures and drink in the beauty of things hidden from view…kingfishers, eagles, swans, opsrey, wildflowers, sandhill cranes, deer. One of my goals at FWCC this year is to discover the hidden beauty of our children, to see the uniqueness of each one and, as Tom said, help them celebrate their own contribution.