Nature’s Beauty

16 Sep, 2012

One of my favorite times of day is sunrise….there is just something fresh and promising that comes with each new day!

Each morning when I awake to the quiet darkness I take time to think about the previous day and give thanks to God for the blessings in my life. I start the coffee and check my email, make my “To Do” list and look for the beautiful surprises that await me! We are fortunate enough to live in a sub-division on the north edge of town and the view from our house is a large part of why we built where we did!

I know some may say it looks bare, but I love the rolling hills of alfalfa and corn. A day rarely passes that we don’t see a few guests wander through our three acres…some days it is a pheasant or there may be a little family of rabbits…lately we have been absolutely bombarded by birds! I jokingly said to the kids that I feel like we are living in an Alfred Hitchcock movie They are somewhat of a nuisance, but if I just sit quietly and watch them, there is something beautiful about their acrobatics.

People often ask me, “What in the world are you doing in Nebraska?”, “Why would you move here from San Diego?”, “Don’t you miss the beach?” Well, I always say that I think Kearney is one of the best kept secrets in America…..OOPS…I guess the secret is out! It’s true though! There is something special about Nebraska….if you’ve ever visited or are blessed enough to live here…you know!

We may have a slower pace, there aren’t a lot of high rise buildings, rarely a day passes that I don’t get caught behind some kind of farm equipment traveling down the highway, we may not rub elbows with celebrities on a regular basis, but I have to say, that is perfectly fine with me!

I remember the first trip I made here back in 1994, I couldn’t get over the color of the sky….it was this amazing turquoise! It seemed so clear and pure. I spent most weekends as a child camping with my parents near the Colorado River in Arizona, four hours from our San Diego home and I loved the night skies and how many more stars I could see than when at our home. Well, here at night there are more stars than I have ever seen! I remember a couple years ago when some roadies from Invisible Children came to stay with us for a few days, they arrived around 2 in the morning and even though they were exhausted from traveling they had to stop and relish the beauty of the sky so full of stars! That’s one of the blessings of living in the “country”!

How often do you take a good long look around you? We all get so caught up in our day-to-day lives…chaos everywhere….running late, a million tasks on the day’s list….I think we miss the beauty in the little things.

Monday I spent the afternoon teaching 1^st grade students about rocks. Each year the students in 1^st grade here in Kearney take a fieldtrip to Glenwood Elementary and explore the natural beauty of Nebraska. What a wonderful lesson we should all take the time to learn.

The students rotated through 4 different stations every half hour. At my station we sat in a rock pile learning about the different types of rocks and then we took time to choose our favorites from the pile. The rocks were just typical river rock like many of us have in our landscaping. It was so inspiring to see the world through the eyes of these 6 year olds. They each were attracted to different types of beauty. Some liked shiny or sparkly rocks some found really unique ones…rocks that the water had made wonderful shapes and carvings on. The cool part was that each of the four groups found completely different rocks that were simply…beautiful!

I am grateful for the time I had with these kids, they taught me to slow down and enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds us each and everyday wherever we are! So, if you are fortunate enough to be one of the 2 million people that inhabit our great state, stop today and look at your surroundings and if you don’t live here, look at the beauty that can be found where you are.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”

~George Washington Carver

God’s blessings are everywhere, it is up to us to acknowledge them and show our gratitude!