If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is 'thank you', it will be enough.
-- Meister Eckhart
At one point in my life (well many perhaps) I would have argued that more was needed than this...just a simple 'thank you'. But now, I see the wisdom of this simplicity. A 'thank you' to God is a profound thing, given our more natural tendencies. It takes time for us to realize our true nature, that which was created in the image of God and which seeks His glory through our being. When we are aligned in this way, gratitude permeates us.
When I awoke this morning, the skies were shrouded in gray. I was a bit disappointed, having awakened with my normal Sunday hope of the woods. But I headed out anyway. And, as I headed into the thick, I noticed an emerging ambiance of light. Above me, the clouds were rolling back like a blanket and sunlight was over-taking the world. I had to stop and admire it.
Spotting across the stream my favorite fire-bushes lining the path with their tiniest little bulbs of red, I continued. I was going a different direction, but turned back their way...I just had to run through them.
Blue sky now mirrored itself on the paralleling stream beside me. I rounded a corner and there...stunning me was the largest red-headed woodpecker I have ever seen. It had to be nearly 15" and the sun now shining behind it lit its red plume like fire. Its size portrayed the beauty of its coat of black and white, further accentuating its brilliant hat. I stopped again.... I recovered and continued and nearly ran into a batch of climbing yellow berries, so replete with the season of fall that no store could have come close to capturing the essence of its garland. As if that weren't enough, the next scene crashed into my sight...nearly two dozen scintillating silhouettes of white swanned effortlessly on a glassy lake before me. I couldn't quite take all this in. I couldn't quite breathe.
...I could only pray 'thank you'.
