A Year of Gratitude – March 6, 2024

I found my gratitude in nature today. That’s a fairly common place for me to find gratitude. It’s also the place where I find peace and a way to center myself when the world around me seems to be spinning just a bit too quickly.

Today was that sort of day. I needed to get outside, to feel the sunshine, and to take a deep breath of fresh air. It was rainy yesterday, so there was plenty of mud around. I knew that from my morning round of farm chores when my muck boots took the first step towards the chicken coop.

I decided to take a lap around the barn. I stopped in the garden and looked at the empty space where plants will hopefully flourish this summer. I walked along the raspberry patch, looking for signs of an early spring. I ran my hand over the leaf bed over the rhubarb patch, feeling for the crowns that will emerge when they have enjoyed enough warmth and the soil loosens enough to allow them to break free.

The trees are setting buds. The lilacs are signaling they are ready for spring. I have my fingers crossed that we won’t have a hard freeze that sacrifices their beauty for the season ahead.

Around the time I had decided to head back into the farmhouse, to sit back down to work on the project that needed my attention, I stopped to listen to a bird in the woods. When I started to walk away, I looked down and saw this.

It looked like a scene that had been created for a backdrop. Each piece seemed to be placed in just the right spot. Each bright red berry set against dry, neutral toned leaves dropped from trees last fall. Vibrant green growth was pushing up through it all.

It wasn’t lost on me that my gratitude yesterday was about accepting that I couldn’t make a photo look perfect. I couldn’t arrange pieces to create something that was perfect because I am by nature imperfect as we all are. I needed to accept that doing the best I could was, well, the best I could possibly do.

And here I was looking at something created by wind, rain, time, and season, that was absolutely perfect. The colors, textures, and contrasts were stunning. I was so grateful that I had looked down to see it, that I had taken a moment to be present in the space I was standing in instead of hurrying to the place I was going. I would have missed it.

So, here’s to being present in the place where I am, to being in the place where my feet are and to finding beauty in that very spot. It’s there, but sometimes you have to slow down and look around, or in this case down, to see it.

I hope that today gave you a moment to stand in place and enjoy something wonderful around you.

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.