Someone shared this secret... this miracle of nature in 2007. We watched the feeding and the fledging of the young, brave herons. It was as spectacular as a symphony. It was beautiful poetry in motion. It touched our hearts and filled our souls.
In 2008, I returned with my wife for a reprise of this miracle in action. We watched for more than an hour as the parents cared for their young. We returned home warmed and filled.
This year it was different.
Give whatever reason... share whatever excuse. I just did not go.
"Why not?" you ask.
"Things" were more important than witnessing the miracle. I was too caught up in the drama of life to remember to be in the moment with the true values of living. I did not see the forest... or the trees... or the herons.
I almost feel as if I missed the birth of my own child... and it has been taken from me, unnamed... forever.
I cannot explain why this connection with nature has become so important to me. Perhaps a few things:
I am the grandson of a Lakota Sioux grandfather. He maintained his connection with nature and understood his part in it. I was fully awakened to this connection just two years ago.
I have been introduced to the concept of "living in the moment", and have been encouraged to both understand it and live it.
I have regained some of the child-like innocence of youth... the innocence of wonder and beauty of nature. I do not want to lose it again. It was so long in returning and I feel it slipping through my fingers like the pure waters of a cool mountain stream.
I do not want to lose it again.
I must consciously return to the store of knowledge and sit at the feet of the master once more.
I must not only learn, but do.
I must not only do... but believe.
