It’s a beautiful fall morning, and I have just returned from a hike in the woods.

 

As I came around a bend, something caught my eye in a tree. It was a turkey vulture sitting on a branch and facing the sun as it rose over the crest of a hill.

 

I mention to people all the time that this particular spot is my favourite place on my walks in the woods. I love it for the very same reason the turkey vulture was there…

 

Because I can stand there, lean against a tree, and point my face to the sun.

 

I’ve hiked in these woods through my favourite spot hundreds of times and have never seen a turkey vulture perched. (they are huge!) I see them all the time soaring overhead, but this was a first, and really up close.

 

We eyed each other curiously and respectfully. My thoughts in that moment were about Honour.

 

I was there honouring Mother Earth and that great and wondrous giver of life – the Sun – and it felt like the vulture was doing the same thing too.

 

We were One, and the gift for me did not go unrecognized.

 

As I stood there in the bliss of the moment, he turned right around, his back to the sun, then spread his massive majestic wings as if to say, “yes…yes…l am magnificent!”

 

He sat like that for a while as I drank in his beauty, then he took flight while I listened to the “whish…whish” of wings and air dancing in harmony.

 

There’s a well known quote by Albert Einstein that goes… “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

 

…it came to mind as I was walking back to my car.

 

The Miracle of Life.

 

We either live it or we don’t.

 

That’s called Freedom.

 

Regardless of circumstance, we’re free to choose.

 

With love,

Heather xo