Monday, December 19, 2011

unexpected things




well my dear ones,


The Christmas season is in full swing.
When you were a kid,
if you were fortunate enough
to have a halfway decent set of parents,
Christmas time was a magical time of year,
a time of expectation
when it seemed like anything was possible.

For those who are older,
who have lost friends and loved ones,
the holiday season can be a tough time,
a time of remembrance,
a time of melancholy,
a time of missing those who have passed on.

Yet no matter what our age
it's good to remember
that we are not the One running the universe
and that we should never get too jaded
to look for the unexpected things.

Yesterday, I decided to take a ride,
so I fired up the Harley
(and my electric vest; it's chilly here!)
and headed out down some old country roads.

I started out on an old familiar road
then turned down a new road;
but as soon as I did, it felt "wrong,"
as if it was the wrong path or the wrong time,
so I got back on the old familiar road,
the one I've traveled many times.

Yet after some 30 miles of the same old stuff,
I came across something I've never seen before,
the heavy machinery that sets the ties
under the rails on railroad tracks.
Since I have some friends that are into trains,
I stopped to get some pics of it in operation.



On my way back home,
I came up on the grassy runway of an old airport
just as a paraglider came in for a touch and go
and a sweeping 180 degree turn,
and I was able to get pics of that, too.



As I rode home thinking about
these unexpected things
that were there for me
on this old familiar road,
I passed through a lovely forest
that made me think of a snatch of a song:

"All of Heaven and all Creation sing
 the wonders of God's love."


The one last unexpected thing I ran into
was a cat, Ace (pronounced "A-cee"),
in a hardware store.



She came right over and nuzzled me,
one of God's simple creatures
knowing instinctively that I'd never harm her;
and as I scratched her little fuzz,
the fur of a small creature
that all of our science and all our technology
could not even come close to creating,
it reminded me once again
that all of life is a miracle.

No matter your background
or what you believe,
I wish you all that some unexpected things
will somehow in some way
become Christmas blessings for you.


Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave


"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

                              --- Jesus

Ace ("A-cee") in the hardware store

powered paraglider


railroad tie inserting machine