How we need to stop, wonder, feel blessed by all God’s creations
I don’t imagine I’m the only one for whom life gets busy with feelings that the cares of the world are crowding in.
Do I hear cries of “Yes Carol, welcome to my world”?
I’d been feeling that way recently with daily news reports presenting the usual bleak pictures of man’s inhumanity to man, along with more local and personal concerns and a “to do” list that didn’t seem to be getting shorter, however much I worked at it.
I was at my parents’ home in Cannock. By late morning it was time to stop. Mum, Dad and I got into the car and headed for Cannock Chase, remarking very quickly on the blessings of being surrounded by such beauty within minutes of leaving home.
Situated somewhere in the middle of all this is the Wolseley Nature Reserve and that was our chosen destination on that day. After a spot of lunch in the outdoor café (would have been rude not to!), we made our way deeper into the reserve.
We passed the graceful swans on the lake, through a group of more enthusiastic ducks and slightly menacing, albeit amusing geese, all hoping we were there to feed them.
We reached the specially-laid boardwalks that offer views across the more tranquil pools – and it was there, with the sound of a waterfall somewhere in the distance, that we stopped and watched the wildlife, taking in the beauty of creation and the wonder of God’s handiwork.
Mum spotted a nest in the middle of one of the pools and identified the bird within as a coot.
We think it was Daddy Coot in the nest at the time keeping watch while Mummy Coot had gone for a break.
To our delight she returned quickly and we watched as he now went off, first of all to get food, ducking right down into the water and each time coming up looking rather pleased with himself.
He then disappeared in the greenery at the edge of the pool, reemerging with a twig and leaves and swimming at quite a pace now to take his finds back to the nest before going off again.
They would have no idea and not a care in the world that they were being watched. They, and all the other species of bird around them were just going about their business.
We were quite fascinated, realising that we were watching something that in that setting was commonplace and ordinary, yet struck by the wonder of it all. Later on I returned to work but was feeling so much better with a renewed sense of awe, not just at the wonder of creation but at the greatness of the creator and His loving presence all around us.
It had been there all the time – but
to see it I had needed to stop. Two verses came to mind that I leave with you. From the poem by W H Davies, “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.”
And from Psalm 46 verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God”.