Late morning on Grand Lake Road....

".....being attentive to the times of the day: when the birds began to sing, and the deer came out of the morning fog, and the sun came up. The reason why we don't take time is a feeling that we have to keep moving. This is the real sickness. We live in the fullness of time. Every moment is God's own good time, His kairos. The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek. We don't have to rush after it. It was there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us."

Thomas Merton

On the way back to my office, I took the road less travelled along the shore of Grand Lake where the summer cottages were all tucked in and closed up until the thaw. No one else was on the snow covered road. It was just me and the sweet music which surrounded me with smiling life. The big evergreens, their brances laden in white stood stoically while the sun filtered down through the spaces between them. Music inside my van, silence in the hibernating outdoors.

At one point, you drive through a cathedral of tall pine which encloses the road on both sides. They stand tall and straight like a welcoming line of well wishers, so close that the sun has few cracks to penetrate its light through. I always feel like I should slow right down as I drive along as a way of saluting back to these trees. And as I slowed down, I was struck by the beauty of the sun filtering through the branches. I stepped out of the car, away from the music and stood in the middle of the empty road....in silent reverence. I didn't want to leave.