A Year of Gratitude – February 1, 2024

My gratitude was delivered by my daughter today. She always gives me something to be grateful for. This evening, just as night was falling, she went outside and discovered something that caused her to take a photo and share it with me upon her return to the farmhouse. She turned the tables as I am normally the one capturing a photo outside and sharing it with her.

She happened to spot these tiny bird tracks in the snow on the steps to our front porch. They’re so tiny that I am shocked that she saw them at all. It would have been so easy to miss them, to pass them by and never notice them.

I’m so glad that she didn’t. They’re so tiny yet precise in this undisturbed snow. I can almost imagine the little bird hopping from spot to spot, carefully placing each foot in the snow. It’s amazing that the impressions are so clear, so easy to see the outline of each tiny little toe.

They wouldn’t have remained this clear, this precise, if our weather hadn’t been so gloomy and grey today. If the sun had appeared from behind the clouds as I wished it would all day long, these tracks wouldn’t exist. The snow would have melted away leaving no trace of the tiny bird behind.

I’m so glad that it didn’t get erased away, that she saw it and took the time to take a photo to share with me so that I could share it with you. I’ll admit that I spent most of the day wishing that we could have a bit of sunshine, feeling a bit gloomy myself from the unending string of gloomy and dreary days we’ve had lately. Then nature, and my daughter, gave me a reason to see the lack of sunshine today as the reason these little tracks existed for her to discover.

I’m still hoping for sunshine tomorrow, to feel the warm sun streaming in the windows here at the farmhouse. Today, I’m grateful for tiny prints in the snow, for a day that allowed them to remain right where the little bird left them, and for a daughter who could find beauty even in a gloomy day.

I hope that today gave you a reason to be grateful and that it treated you gently.

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.