Front Porch Flower Bed
Spent five days at a conference this week. It was a pretty good conference and it was wonderful to have reunion with people I usually only see at that conference.
Home in the country again, it’s interesting to catch up with what’s been going on: cattle that have been out and put back in (this I couldn’t see for myself, but had to be told by those who got them back in); limbs that have fallen in storms; wicker chairs that have blown off the porch during one of the storms that produced a total of four inches of rain while I was gone; more toads now; some plants have grown by half their size and weeds that had been pulled before I left are back again.
But the thing I notice most is the knot in my stomach, the anxiety in my heart. Try as I might not to, I got caught up in the politics of the conference. Not that I’m a political player, but just noticing the reality of politics and how much it influences our community and how in little and big ways it impacts my life presented me with an anxious heart and a knot in my stomach. Politics can become our daily diet and it affects us.
Sitting on the porch this morning, I try to let it all go.
There’s a small green toad hopping on the porch floor.
The wood bees are buzzing, doing their work.
The birds are gloriously vociferous.
The wind is blowing through the huge hackberry tree.
I hear the steady throbbing of crickets.
Yellow yarrow and lavender have not faded one bit.
A barn swallow nabs a wood bee, right in front of me.
The cats meander about.
The cow confined to the corral bleats.
I hear the woodpecker.
The toad is crawling through the mulch and stones in the rock garden.
The knot melts away.
The peaceful state of my heart is found again.
I am deeply grateful.
