Dear Beautiful Ones,
Sometimes life has a habit of pulling us down when we get
caught up in all the things that we feel we need to do. We tend to not take
time to take care of ourselves and often put things off for another day. Our
own uniqueness gets lost among the many reflections of busyness.
I was having one of those days where I had a thousand
things on my mind and wasn’t paying much attention to anything in particular.
Not staying in the moment, and certainly not thinking about anything
magnificent. I was oblivious to me. I had just returned home from running
errands and decided to take the garbage bins out of the street and into the
backyard. They had already been emptied so I figured I might as well get that
chore out of the way.
As I wheeled the first bin into its designated spot, a
plain looking grasshopper jumped into my path to sun himself. I mouthed a
“hello little grasshopper,” and kept on walking intent on finishing my task so
I could go inside to get busy doing some other chore. As I wheeled the second
garbage bin down the driveway, I was surprised to see that the grasshopper was
still sitting there. I looked at him and smiled as I rolled the big green bin
past him and put it next to the other one. Even though I’m sure he felt the
heavy vibrations on the pavement, it didn’t seem to faze him a bit. At that
point I had to stop and have a one-sided conversation with the grasshopper. I
knew he was listening intently to what I had to say because he turned around to
face me, eye to eye as I was talking. I laughed to myself and wondered if the
grasshopper would still be sitting there when I came back with the last bin.
Sure enough, he was and I couldn’t have been more surprised. I put the last bin
up and went back to the grasshopper and had another one-sided conversation with
the little fella. When I began to walk away this time, the grasshopper turned
in my direction and just looked at me.
Oh that grasshopper had my attention at this point. So I
mouthed off telling my little friend not to move so that I could take his
picture. So I hurried into the house and got my camera and came back outside. Sure
enough he was still sitting there on the driveway. I asked him not to move and
got as close as I could to snap his picture. Boy did that grasshopper move
then. He turned from one side to the other side, before facing me eye to eye as
I continued to snap away. Technically I know grasshoppers don’t smile, but it
sure looked to me like he was. He looked happy too. After I finished taking his
pictures, I thanked him and said my goodbyes. When I stood up to return to the
house grasshopper turned to the side, spread his surprisingly beautiful wings,
and flew off to a destination unbeknownst to me.
When I went back into the house, I didn’t start another
chore. I just sat right down and thought about the deep meaning of the message
my little friend grasshopper brought to me. It was simple. Stay in the present
moment or you might miss an encounter with something magnificent that just
might change your life. My friend the grasshopper reminded me of how much
beauty is in our world. There is always something extraordinary to see in
something that we think is plain and ordinary, including ourselves. If I hadn’t
taken the time to pay attention to my friend the grasshopper I wouldn’t have
seen his beautiful wings nor would I have known that he could fly. It was a
good reminder of my own beauty and that I too, can fly if I just take the time
to stay in the present and stay focused.
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