Surprises in the Woods

See, I am doing a new thing!     Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.                                                Isaiah 43:19

 You would think that I would get bored walking with Roland on the same paths for many months now.  The opposite has occurred.  Each venture we take reveals new wonders and curiosities, some days more dramatic than others.

 Today was amazing!  It always seems that when I want to skip our walk that something incredible happens on it.  That was it today.  Roland and I were out looking for mushrooms and fungi.  They seem to grow best this time of year and are really different and interesting.  Every day when we go out, it seems that a new one has grown overnight.  Today it was yellow blobs on a pine tree.  I think it will be Chicken of the Woods when it has grown a little more, but I am no expert so I wouldn’t bet my life on it! Every season, the woods reveal new forms of life, animal, plant and even fungus!  What an opportunity to study them, especially with all the other restrictions on us right now.

 Back to the mushroom hunt! Roland and I were just exiting the woods to a clearing where a cranberry bog sat.  Just as we entered, two beautiful does spring across the bog into the woods surrounding.  All I could do was stand stock still and hold Roland for all I was worth.  My mouth hung open and I whispered “Wow, wow, wow”. We see deer in our area from time to time, but usually it is a fleeting glimpse.  They are skittish and later in the fall they will be hunted.  Today, however, it was a full view of them in all of their glory.   All I could think of after they had disappeared was that I almost skipped our walk this evening.  If I had skipped the walk, I would have skipped this beautiful sight.

 I know I am taking the above verse a little out of context, but it just seemed to fit my experience. God keeps opening my eyes to new things. He is igniting my curiosity again, and not just for books, for real life.  Even when I cannot see Him, even when I push Him away, He is there doing “new things” for my tired mind.  The wilderness, even the little patch of woods I wander, is a gift from Him.  In it we can learn how he cares for the smallest of fungi and the magnificent deer.  I am awestruck at the intricate and intertwined creation that we have no choice but to wonder at.  I cannot wait to see what we find tomorrow!