Tales April 2009
Gary
and I just returned from a trip to France.
Our excuse for traveling was to see our daughter, Caitlin, who is
studying at Aix-en-Provence for the semester, but we made much more of the trip
than a beeline for that city. We started
at Chartres Cathedral, then made our way around the coastal areas of Britanny
in the Northwest before driving south to meet up with Caitlin and explore some
towns and the coast in that region.
As
we toured cathedrals with their ornate and amazing architecture from several
different eras, wended our way through towns with narrow cobblestone streets
and ancient homes, and took pictures of chateaus nestled into valleys and on
the tops of hills, I became aware that we could not possibly see everything we
wanted to see in France. Our list of
things that we intended to see was unreasonable, even though we had limited
ourselves to just a few special areas.
Driving
11 hours straight to get back to Paris in time for our flight out, flying by
many interesting-looking towns, I said to Gary that the trip had taught me that
there were far more beautiful and amazing things to see in France than we would
ever have time to see. It then became
even more obvious to me that there were far more beautiful and amazing things
to see in the whole world than we would ever be able to see in one lifetime,
even if we spent that whole life traveling.
In that thought was the seed of awe for the amazing world in which we
live, with so much beauty we cannot possibly take it all in. Wow!
Knowing
that I can’t see all I might hope to see, what seems essential is to really pay
attention to what is right here in front of me, to appreciate this place right
here and right now in a long series of “here and nows” throughout this life
given to me. So, as I write this on the
first day of Spring, I notice the sun’s extra warmth despite wintery
temperatures. I notice the bird songs
changing and the daffodils green stalks beginning to poke through the earth. Even here and now, there is so much to see,
so much beauty and so many amazing things, that I cannot possibly really notice
them all no matter how hard I try. Life
is such a gift!