A Year of Gratitude – April 7, 2024
I found my gratitude on a walk in the woods today. I needed to get outside, to breathe deeply and fill my lungs with fresh air. After our snowy week, it was wet and soggy, but I just pulled on my insulated high boots, grabbed a coat and hat, and headed out towards the woods to find a fresh start to the day.
Sometimes I just need to ground myself with nature. Today, I needed to close my eyes and listen to the birds. I went a ways into the woods and stopped in a clearing. I closed my eyes and listened to the birds around and overhead. They were making quite a racket today. The louder they got, the quieter that voice in my head became. I concentrated on my breathing, being mindful of the in and out, of the feeling of breath filling my chest and then leaving.
As I did, I heard the grackles. Have you ever heard a grackle? They have a call that sounds like a rusty gate, like an old hinge. The sound is unmistakable. I have always liked the sound of their call, but I have come to feel connected to it in a new way the last few years.
When I hear it, I am reminded that there is always a new door to open, a new path to walk. Just like that rusty gate or door hinge it reminds me of, I can open that new space ahead of me and walk through it. It takes courage to make a new path, to go in a new direction. It can be daunting. Yet it can also be freeing.
By walking a new path, choosing a new direction, I can leave some things behind that have been painful. No, I won’t be able to forget them, but I can put distance between us. I can keep walking until they are a memory and not my present.
So, I listened to the grackles. They were the loudest I have ever heard them in this spot. I smiled at the thought of them gathering here for their boisterous conversation on the very day that I needed to hear them.
When I turned around to head back to the farmhouse, I noticed a glint of something on the ground. On closer inspection, I found this old bottle filled with moss and ferns in the most beautiful greens. There was a whole universe inside this bottle. The neck of the bottle was held shut with wet earth, keeping the humidity inside the glass. Yes, there was a whole universe inside making a home inside a space that had been discarded many years ago.
The grackle’s call and this little bottle reminded me that there’s a big world out there. While my challenges feel enormous to me, they are but a small part of the world. And there’s a big world out there just waiting for me to open a new gate and have the courage to walk through it.
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.