Yesterday, Tyler and I went for a walk at Coyote Point Regional Park in Fremont. A friend of mine once mentioned to me that the park looks different in every season. I agree. Yesterday, the marsh was almost completely dry, but there were still wet places where birds could gather. Tyler posted that we saw "a bald Eagle, a few thousand ducks and coots, egrets, bushtits, yellow rumped warblers, sparrows, marsh wrens.... so many birds!" A pretty festive place, but we have yet to see a coyote. Turkeys hang out at the nature center, where people picnic. Their size and shiny plumage leads me to believe they are skilled foragers and engaging guests at a picnic.
As beautiful as the land appeared, and watching the birds go about simply being birds was fascinating, my eyes kept being drawn to the sky by the light and beautiful clouds. I was reminded of the need to keep looking up and beyond. And I need to do that often. I seem to need a sense of horizon. There I find hope.
"The Presence protects us.
I was brought low,
and the Presence was there.
Return my soul;
rest in the embrace of Infinite care.
You have delivered my soul from numbing despair,
my eyes from weeping,
my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the One in the lands of life.
I will be faithful."
from Psalm 116
Psalms Ancient Songs for These Times
Rabbi Yael Levy
In her beautiful book of translations and interpretations of the Psalms, Rabbi Levy writes that her book was arranged as a collage. I find that to be a thoughtful image. She reminds me that God's sacred Presence and Mystery continue to unfold. So, I walk, in faith, in the lands of life, moving to the horizon, looking at the sky, the clouds, the stars, the moon. Do I stumble? Alas, yes. But so far, I have never once fallen out of this beautiful collage.
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