Today my challenge is for all of us to get outdoors this weekend and take a walk on the wild side.
Where I live in Colorado–at about 6300 feet–the wildflowers are in bloom. A few weeks ago, I and my family discovered a wonderful ridgeline trail near our home. We’ve made it a point to walk the trail at least a few times each week. As we climb, we walk next to scrub oak and other bushes which are all a brilliant shade of green right now. Once we get to the ridgeline, we have beautiful vistas of Pikes Peak, Sleeping Indian, and the Rocky Mountain front range. What I am enjoying most, however, are all the wildflowers we encounter. And with each passing day, there are new colors and shapes to appreciate.
Tonight, my daughter Alix and I took our walk at about 6:00 P.M. She likes to run, so for most of the walk/run, we are each on our own. As we began the trail, I was immediately greeted by the fragrance of flowers and shrubs, and it smelled heavenly. I continued to climb on my own (Alix had left me in the dust of course), and I began noticing the many flowers which hadn’t been there just two days ago. I kept a good pace but had to stop every now and then to appreciate the color that surrounded me. Even large fuzzy bumble bees were new to the trail, crossing my path and moving from flower to flower.
I am still smiling as I recall the flowers and fragrance I was treated to this evening. When Alix and I hooked up towards the end of the trail, she told me she’d even stopped quite a few times to look at all the new flowers in bloom. (Knowing that at almost 15 years old she can still be effected by the beauty of nature pleases me immensely.)
Tonight I am filled with gratitude for this glorious season of spring which will be with us for a few more weeks. This time of year gives me a sense of opening, lightness and hope. As each new flower opens to reveal its unique beauty, I find myself opening and responding to the longer, warmer days of this time of year. And, with the promise of the new flowers I expect to discover tomorrow, I am filled with the promise that more of us will continue to awaken to our call to be stewards of Mother Earth and to embrace the knowledge that we are in fact a part of the whole living system of the Earth.
I can hardly wait to walk tomorrow and see which new flowers have opened. I hope you will take the opportunity that springtime offers and “take a walk on the wild side”–go experience the magnificence of the wildflowers and plants native to where you live and allow their opening to open you a little further too.
