A still spot in the afternoon

I'm reading God in the Yard, by L.L.Barkat. I am fascinated by her commitment to sit in her yard for a little while each day to look and listen.

 We recently added a bench to our yard decor, and I find it very soothing to sit there with a cup of tea.

I hear the traffic on a nearby busy street, but our brick wall blocks it from my sight. The neighborhood gate clangs and I hear someone coaxing her dog out for a walk.

I see my garden gnomes and a few speckled lizards. I see the rosemary bush that I started to trim yesterday. I need to finish that...but first I'll watch the clouds rush overhead, and listen to the wind shake the palm tree.

I smell the basil and thyme in my herb garden. I'll run my hands through a few of those leaves before I go in, so I can take the fragrance with me.

I feel the sun's warmth and the wind's energy, and I am so grateful that it is October and seventy degrees instead of July and one hundred and ten degrees.

A peace enters my afternoon when I take time to just be.

Be still, and know that I am God...(Psalm 46:10 NKJV)