PRAYER FOR A GOOD DAY

Yesterday looking out the bedroom window I spied a lonely deer feasting on a patch of plentiful mushrooms, cream and yellow, thumb-sized red, puffy domed speckled brown and flat pancake orange.  I love watching the deer forage.  They are not rambunctious like the squirrels (who also sit on their haunches and nibble mushrooms), nor as particular as the birds at our feeder, but graceful. Sometimes they stand on their hind legs and reach high for a leaf.  This deer chose some mushrooms and chewed them happily while passing others by.  

Then as I was leaving the house a red-tailed hawk sailed cleanly through the trees and out into the open sky.  Later, returning home, I saw two deer bounding from the meadow where they were visible into the woods, their bodies arch-shaped, leaping with front legs parallel, all four feet in the air.  Yesterday was a good day.  Don't you feel that way if you spot a box turtle or a tree frog? When we see a turtle, we want to tell someone.   

Sometimes I want something other than what I have.  To travel more and see the world, redo the kitchen, or fix the cracked fireplace.  To drive a new car with all the safety gadgets or have an automatic gate instead of one that nearly hurls me into the ditch when I yank it open.  To be young instead of old.  Sometimes I barely notice the deer and hawks; I speed down the driveway on an errand or stay home doing chores and forget to turn on the music.  

Then, other times, the better me remembers that there are people praying for what I already have.  People praying the war will cease (as do I), the well water is clean, the flooding will abate, the fires will be put out, the bullets won't ricochet tonight (in my town as well).  People praying for a full plate, quiet rest and long life.  People praying for a life that I may take for granted, having lived too long to die young, having money enough for the life I lead, and being as healthy as anyone else my age.  

Are you ever like this?  Overlooking the wonder and blessings of today?  I'd like to always notice the hawk overhead and the rabbit under the cedar; the downy woodpecker hammering the dogwood tree; the pop-up storms, the faithful moon and the leaves after summer rain.  

I do hear the owl most every night.  And I almost always look for the moon on Mr. Wiggles' last walk before bed.   But I'd like to never take the magic of the mundane for granted.  Just because it's here for the taking shouldn't make it less precious.  

If you feel the same, we could share this prayer: 

Dear God, let us be ever grateful for what we have.  Let us look to the sky and under every rock to find the treasures you have hidden in plain sight.  Snails in their shells, hickory nuts, fallen persimmons, moss and fern--whether high or low, let us appreciate what is so abundantly around us.  Help us remember that someone is praying for greenness to rise out of rubble and to be alive at dawn.  When we encounter your everyday gifts let us keep them in our heart, preserve them, and share them in whatever way is best.  And if we find only one sign of magic, however small, let that be a good day.  AMEN

                                                               Nina Naomi