Musings

A light layer of snow sprawls atop the stubble of straw left unploughed in the fields. Round hay bales lie scattered haphazardly, a few lined into avenues but mostly dotted randomly round the landscape. 

Where the avenues are, though, there is intrigue for Dusty. Wee animals are obviously nesting in there, having found shelter from the winter storms. Her tail wags with excitement as she sniffs out a mouse or a pheasant or some other such creature. 

We walk on from the avenue across the field, where she runs pell-mell, delighted with the cold weather, with the damp snow underfoot. 

Dusty was made for this sort of weather, and it brings her to life. She is equipped with a silky long black coat which is a menace to manage but which keeps her cosy when the poodle Tara next door is dressed in a man-made coat. 

It is lovely to look at, and when I’m layered up in five layers, it feels fine to be walking in it.

But I am remembering the balmy breeze along the Pacific two weeks ago, when we stopped just north of Santa Barbara for a beach walk. The sun shone warm on my face as the breakers crashed on the shore. Wonderful.

There is such diversity in this world God has given us, and I am very privileged to be able to enjoy such a variety. Privileged and aware, that by my travelling between family on one side of the world and the other, my carbon footprint is harming the ecology which I so love.

Lord, help me to live small today.