The area I call home has a variety of paved trails where a bicyclist can spin car-free and carefree.
As I rode on my favorite of these trails recently my senses were alive to the incredible beauty of this route that meandered through lush groves of sub-tropical trees and alongside a gently flowing waterway. Gorgeous flowers were in bloom. All manner of birds swooped high and low, including the always-inspiring osprey and swallow-tailed kite. Vibrant red cardinals flitted about the brush, and a variety of stately wading birds found meals along the water’s edge. Rabbits scurried on green grass, fish leaped out of the waterway, and warm Florida sunshine beamed down from a blue canopy decorated with white towers of cumulonimbus clouds. The eye candy of this trail was undeniable, and all of these small glories filled me up inside with a delicious joy.
This is the trail I would love to ride every single day!
But the particular bike trail I chose to ride on a different day was far from glorious: the sultry air carried a stomach-turning stench as it circled around a local landfill, and the swarm of large birds in the sky above were vultures. This trail also had a canal next to it, but the murky brown water was highly suspect with trash littered throughout. A large section of this route was built right next to a busy road, and the sight, sound, and smell of automobiles was far from appealing. No wildlife of any consequence was found, and no enthralling views were to be seen. A water treatment plant next to the trail was another of many blights. A couple of the underpasses revealed sketchy-looking characters sitting off to the dark sides and I was glad to be pedaling past quickly on a bike rather than nervously walking by them.
You might wonder why I would ever want to take that nasty trail again.
And yet the reality is that these two wildly different yet accurate descriptions are for the exact same bike trail.
What I see on any given ride along this path is what I choose to focus my attention on.
As I power along on my bike, will I train my senses to truly see all the everyday beauty surrounding me, crying out to be savored with a heart of thankfulness? Or will I set my sights on all the imperfections, all that displeases me, all that is wrong, leaving no room for grace and gratitude?
I choose the intentional practice of childlike wonder – eagerly anticipating the treats Creator-God has in store for me each new morning as he reveals his excellence, his beauty, and his love through the ordinary delights of life.
________________________________
“This is the day that the LORD has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it.”
(Psalm 118:24)
________________________________
[Note: for the photographically curious, images in this post were created with a Nikon D7100 DSLR w/Tamron 150-600mm, an iPhone 6 Plus, and Adobe Lightroom 5 processing software.]