Wildflowers Along the Lane

I went on a mini-vacation this weekend - just me and the kids.  Proximity to clean bathrooms, free breakfast, and a guarantee of quiet neighbours were strong determinants in our choice to camp in my parents' backyard, along with the lack of camping fee.  It's beautiful there and we had a good time.

One evening, the kids and I went for a walk down the lane. The boys were riding their bikes and my daughter was strolling along, picking wildflowers. I was walking along, thinking about a person I know of who is currently walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela – The Way of Saint James – in northern Spain. The Camino is an ancient Christian pilgrimage trail dating back to the Middle Ages, beginning in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and extending 780 km to Santiago, Spain. I was experiencing the familiar pangs of travel-envy that beset me every time I hear of someone traveling to a place I want to go. I was wondering how a person would possibly begin to capture all the wonderful things they would see and experience in a new place when over every hill and around each corner, there would be something interesting and fascinating. Well, I surmised morosely, I imagine they would do it much the same way a person could capture any moment in life.

And then I thought, yes! Open your eyes to your own life, right here and now. I may not be walking along the Camino, but I am walking down a Rosehill lane. I may not have the freedom and independence – or money – to jet half-way around the world, but I do have three beautiful children who love me and are with me every day.  How am I capturing this perfect golden summer evening, this precious, fleeting moment of carefree childhood that is spread out before me? Here, right where I am, there is something beautiful and captivating over each hill and around every corner.

Such a tricky balance – aspiration and contentment. Maybe it's like how a child picks wildflowers: she doesn't waste time moaning over the flowers she hasn't yet picked. She is enthralled with the flowers gathered in her hand and is always looking for more to add to her bouquet. Perhaps the key is to receive my life with a heart full of gratitude and eyes full of love and to open myself to the golden moments right around me and the possibility of opportunity ahead of me.

                              “This is the day that the Lord has made;

                                    let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

                                                             Psalm 118:24