Morning Aerosol

Morning sounds, morning light, morning air, tiny pieces all—the light shattered by leaves on trees, by leaves on shrubbery, by blades of grass, by the silhouettes of birds that chatter in chirps, each ending barely before the next one starts, one bird speaking over another, a third bird joins in with a different cadence from a different bush, now there are too many to count, a short silence and it begins again. 

Leaves and flower petals are made translucent as they filter the slanted light. The air is partitioned into pockets of cool and less cool with an occasional repository of true warmth. If a stem or a leaf passes through this warm spot, a butterfly will surely be sitting there—or, a solar-collecting rock may bring a lizard out of hiding. 

If I am fortunate to be outside in this morning dispersal of light and air and sound, it feels as if some benevolent sun god has grabbed an aerosol can from her garage and sprayed the eastern side of me with youth and energy. For the remainder of the morning I will behave as if many years have been subtracted from my age.  I will accomplish much. I will feel happy and satisfied with what I have done.  I will be so industrious, later on I will probably need to take a nap. And whether I recall it specifically or not, this day will weight my conclusions to the positive side when I look back upon my life.

Once upon a time I attended seminary, I did not become a minister, although on occasion I have preached.  I am not sure that God exists and lately I find it difficult to be in religious settings of any kind. I have traded those spaces for more time on my bicycle and more mornings spent in my garden.  

Rather than practicing religion, what I would like to do is send people out into world full of the kind of youthful energy that still believes we may work to accomplish good things.  I would like everyone to experience the brightness and hope I receive from the translucency of sunlit leaves and the busyness of tiny birds. I would like for every person—and their most beloved pets—to have the security to pause to enjoy a sunlit morning. What I want is for everyone to be bathed in the power of a lizard sunning on a rock.