A Year of Gratitude – March 11, 2024

Gratitude blew into my day today in a place where I didn’t expect it. I certainly wasn’t looking for it. Yet I found it anyway.

It was cold and blustery here today. We had a wind advisory and the conditions were unpleasant to say the least. The wind gusts were so strong that you could feel the old farmhouse flex, hear it groan as the big barn door rattled in its frame nearby.

A trip to our local library, a place that we love, was on the calendar. There were reserved books to pick up and a few books to donate, so we bundled up and headed downtown. I braced myself for the short walk from the car to the immense front door of our old library.

As I hurried up the granite steps, I noticed the pine boughs on the tree next to the stairs. It was dancing in the wind. The needles were bright green against the stone facade of the library. Clusters of little nubs that will eventually form into pine cones were huddled inside. They were beautiful.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and hoped that I could capture a photo. The wind would eventually slow down, I figured. My cold hands begged to differ as I stood there, waiting. I waited, rather impatiently. It wasn’t slowing down at all.

Then I started taking photos rapidly, hoping that I would capture at least one that was in focus. When that didn’t work, I decided to move with the wind. I tried to match the speed of the movement on this bough, trying to keep pace with it. That’s when I captured this photo.

While it gives the appearance that this scene was motionless, it certainly wasn’t. I was standing out in the cold, in the wind, moving with it. I’m sure that passersby wondered what I was doing and why I was doing it.

So often when we look at someone, we assume that their life is calm, that things are peaceful while underneath, they are moving as fast as they can manage just to keep up. There’s that old saying about a duck gliding across the water so smoothly and effortlessly while their feet are paddling as fast as they can underneath.

I think that most of us are doing that. We’re running so fast, doing so much, and trying to make it look easy, as if we have everything under control. I think that we feel like we need to give the illusion that things are handled, that everything is taken care of, that we’re on top of it.

Ironically, that can make someone else feel like they are the one that doesn’t have everything under control. I know that I sometimes feel as though I am failing to keep up while everyone else is doing so easily. But I’m only looking at the duck above the water as it glides smoothly without seeming to move a feather.

This photo looks calm and serene but it was taken by moving with the wind instead of waiting for the wind to calm down. I need to remember to move with the wind, to lean into it when I need to. I also need to remember that our ducks paddle with wild abandon when they want to move from one place to another. There’s nothing wrong with being the calm above the water on the days when you can or in being those feet churning away under the surface when you need to.

Most of all, there’s nothing wrong with admitting to yourself and the people in your life that you are overwhelmed, that you are having a day when it just feels like you can’t catch your breath. We all have them. You are not alone.

I had one of those days today until I remembered to sway with the wind, to take a deep breath, and to curl up with a good book from the library tonight even though there were chores I could have done instead. My to do list will be waiting for me in the morning and I will do my best to handle each and every task while gliding through my day and paddling as fast as I can.

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.