Somedays the Holy One just works harder to get our attention. For me, today was one of those days. My morning started early with a breakfast meeting that had me leaving home in the dark. The adventure of this was heightened by the deep cold temperatures and even deeper wind hills creating an air of danger. “Please don’t let my car fail me! I would die of frostbite in moments.” O.K. That may be a bit dramatic but suffice it to say it was cold. Very cold.

Merging onto the freeway with all the other early risers, I kept my head tucked deep into my neck and even deeper into the scarf that was wrapped firmly around both neck and chin. My imitation of a turtle was reaching completion when my eyes strayed for only a second to my rearview mirror.

Brilliance nearly blinded me. In the east the sun was rising with such an array of colors that it took my breath, now warm and steamy in my scarf, away. Orange. Fuchsia. Purple. Red. Yellow. Navy blue. All dancing against the clear blue of a frigid, Minnesota morning sky. I continued to move forward but my eyes were jumping back and forth from forward to rear with the speed and precision of the eyes of an insect. The show was so beautiful, so awe-inspiring, everything that lay ahead in my day paled in comparison.

That was until I arrived at the office. Bundled against the wind, my various bags balanced on shoulders and hands, I walked briskly toward the warmth of the door. But once again, boom! My eyes detected the quick flight of something large, very large. I turned to face an enormous hawk just landing in the tree not 10 feet away. It seemed to have something in its talons and sat just looking at me. Human eyes met hawk eyes. It did not make a move even when I reached for my phone to take a picture. Even when I walked closer and yet closer. What had appeared at first as a conquest soon showed itself as some foreign object( fabric, duct tape?) attached unnaturally on the strong and powerful leg of this beautiful bird.

What had been awe and a little fear quickly turned to compassion and concern. What could I do? How could I free this miraculous specimen of Creation from what must be causing frustration and fear? The wind picked up and with its force the large bird of prey was given enough power to fly away. I have thought about it all day and prayed that it found a way to detach from what had become entangled in its freedom.

I had a plan for this day. I was moving forward with a to do list, a plan of things I believed to be of great importance. My hope was to systematically check things off and at the end of the day I would feel a sense of accomplishment, as if some goals had been attained, as if I had paid my dues for the living of this day.

But instead of moving forward I was captured by looking backward, taking the rearview and the blessings it offered. Sunrise and bird flight entered my day with a grace that reminded me of this holy path I mostly only stumble along. Until…..until….the sky is painted with color and one of the winged ones looks me in the eye. Then I can no longer treat these days as trivial experiences filled with things I must ‘do’. Instead I must practice being present to the experiences that make gift of glimpses of heaven.
The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart once wrote that if the only prayer we ever pray is ‘thank you’, that would be enough. And so for this day, for all that rose behind me and ahead of me and above me, I say: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.