A Wood Stork and being all there


In my peripheral vision, movement in the marshsomething big. I braked the spinning wheels of my bike to a halt trying to be quiet, and flipped the kickstand down. Pulling my cell phone from the bike bag, I hoped the zipper noise didn’t carry too far.

I crept over to the marsh edge to see this big guy ambling along searching for breakfast.








A crab scurried in the wake of an outgoing tide and the three-foot tall bird snatched him up. Yum.

I didn’t have my bird guide with me, so I wasn’t sure who this was, but later determined he was a Wood Stork. My first sighting.

For me, it’s a treat to see what I haven’t seen before, to experience the thrill of discovery. I sometimes sense God saying, “What do you think about this creation of mine?”

“I think he’s great, God. How did you come up with this big guy and his lanky legs?”

In these kinds of moments, I usually sense God’s presence in a powerful way.

Beloved Elizabeth Elliot has said, “Wherever you are, be all there.”

When I can bring the spinning wheels of my life to a halt and get quiet, I often see amazing things, too, just like I did in the marsh that day. When I can be in the moment, instead of always plunging into or planning the next one, I make discoveries, sometimes things I have never seen.

God is really working on me in this regard. It’s been a lifelong struggle. I have an event calendar that is beginning to rumble a bit. Not too much, but enough so that I’m already struggling with being anxious over what’s on the calendar two months out. Really? Why do I do that, because while I am, I’m missing all that’s happening around me now?

Again, this has been going on a while, but I am determined to get into a place where I don’t waste the joys of now. It seems a tiny door I have to squeeze through, but really it’s all about letting go and letting God be God.

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

If you have a few moments on Thursday morning, Aug. 30, I’m being interviewed on Morning Coffee with Lori Duke Jones on WCHM.com at 7:05 a.m. We’ll be talking about Faith in the Fashion District.