It was only a tiny weed at the side of the trail.
It didn’t smell wonderful or look gorgeous. Its beauty wasn’t being heralded from the mountains as a “must see”.
Anyone who passed it by ahead of me, likely did just that. Passed it by.
So why did I stop? And why did I take this pic?
Believe it or not I spent about three or four minutes trying to get the right angle, trying to get focus, trying not to get my knee too wet while I knelt on the grass.
It drifted gently in the morning breeze, adding a layer of difficulty to the shot. Auto-focus was useless to me with the strong contrast of trees in the background so I had to fumble through the experience with my clumsy attempts at a good manual focus.
So why did I? There were many more exciting and colorful subjects ahead and behind me on the trail. But still, there I was … shooting a little weed with a couple of tiny cobwebs on it.
By the time I got home and sorted through all the award winning, gorgeous and noteworthy pics, this little shot was almost left among the weeds and discarded.
But I paused to think about why I even took the shot.
The answer is simple.
No, seriously, the answer is ….. simple.
We get so used to thrill-seeking and looking for more and more by way of an experience that sometimes we forget that all of life is worth stopping for. It doesn’t have to be stunningly colorful, or death-defying, or supercalafragylistic expealadocious. (Hope Mary Poppins forgives my spelling).
But it doesn’t. It just needs to be.
And our hearts and mind need to be open to receive it.
Our world doesn’t need to be super-saturated and we don’t need to be over-indulged.
Being able to stop and bear witness to something that is naturally simple brings a huge sense of peace with it. No rush or thrill or unforgettable smell is needed if we just pause and appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
Nature is simply beautiful.