Blogs
Small Pleasures
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 by Phyllis Kester
I was recently enjoying a picture I took of my husband leading two young grandsons exploring one of our local trails. Seeing it triggered my thinking about all the preparations many of us make for various holidays. Don’t get me wrong, I love the family get-to-gathers. They can make wonderful memories and give us pictures we treasure for years. But, sometimes, we get all bent out of shape over the big things and forget or neglect the small things we can do.
When I was a child in the 1940s, my father felt guilty about working 2-3 jobs as he tried to provide for his family and enable us to reach the goals my two working parents had set. So, sometimes, he would let me tag along when he had to make a routine check at the nearby Will Rogers Boy Scout Camp near Cleveland, Oklahoma. On one of those trips—I was a preschooler—he suggested we take a short hike before returning home.
“Wow—a hike with my dad. Just he and I—how special!”
He pointed out things as I followed him into a wooded area on a hill overlooking a creek. I was enjoying all the sights and sounds of an autumn day in the woods when suddenly—he put his finger to his mouth as he held his other hand out to stop me. This was his signal for me to be quiet and still. Next, he pointed off to our right a couple of yards. I realized he was pointing to a large flat rock sticking out of the leaves. Then I noticed a giant yellowish-brown millipede on the rock. I stood motionless—fascinated with a creature having so many legs. It was about 6-8 inches long with lots of legs along both sides, so thick they almost made it look like it had a row of fur down both sides along the bottom. I couldn’t decide which end of the millipede had the head until it started slowly making its way across the rock and into the leaves out of our sight.
It stirred my mind and imagination. I wondered how it knew which leg to move first when it started. Of course, I only had 2 legs and was limited to two choices, but how did it know which leg to begin with? And so many feet! How did it move smoothly across the rock without stumbling over one of its feet? Apparently, God gave it that know-how.
Such a simple thing—time together and watching nature. But to that child, it is still a great pleasure—even now—more than 7 decades later.
Let us not overlook the small things. We have no idea how much pleasure it might bring—now or later.
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