This morning as the sun came up on the leaves, and I heard the birds singing, a poem from my childhood came to mind:

I Meant to do my Work Today

by Richard Le Gallienne

I MEANT to do my work to-day –
But a brown bird sand in the apple-tree
And a butterfly filtted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land,
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand –
So what could I do but laugh and go?

The working world doesn’t allow for many moments of freedom. Do the work. Pay the bills. Write the emails. Commute back and forth.

But I thought about a way of traveling and being that is not so obvious. I looked for beauty around me, wherever I went. A passerby’s dress. The movement of leaves along the highway. Flowers in a yard. A catbird hopping from branch to branch.

I looked around me thoughtfully, carefully.

In many way, large and small, God is there.

Blessed be.