After feeding the animals this morning, I walked past the apple tree, down the incline to the marsh. It was flooded from yesterday’s thaw. Now snow hurried to the ground making everything look as if I were seeing it through a veil.
It was cold, gray, and peaceful.
I looked beyond the marsh, over the alders, and into the woods. The tall trees blended together like smoke, indistinguishable from one another. And as I watched the snow fall the woods began to change.
I began to see individual trees.
I wondered if it was because the snow was sticking to the north side of the trees, giving them contrast and definition. Or maybe the light was changing, the sun a little brighter behind the thick layer of cloud. It could have been that the snow was letting up, as gradual as the minute hand on a clock.
Or perhaps it was that the more I looked, the more I could see.
I don’t know which of these it was that allowed me to see more clearly. But it makes me want to do it again tomorrow and see what I can see.
Isn’t that what we hope for…to see more clearly.
Our world is cluttered with stuff. If we just look through it and not at it, perhaps we’ll begin to “see” more clearly. That is always my purpose.
Becki, I know it’s what I hope for too. I feel like I’ve had stages of seeing clearly in my life and right now I’m experiencing another one. Although I haven’t thought about it in some time. Maybe there is always more clarity to be found. It’s an admirable purpose and not always easy.