If I had stayed inside

Scrolling on my phone

An endless stream of targeted ads, funny memes, and click bait

I would have missed the way the sun lights the monopoly-sized  

Houses on the other side of the lake

Or so they look from here

Our own beach still in shadow before the sun rises

The tall bank filled with tiger lilies

Always bursting into bloom this time of year

Nature’s bright fireworks

I would have missed the quiet

The distinct plopping sound the water makes

As it hits the hull of our neighbor’s boat

And the birds

Cawing and trilling and twittering

An entire society removed from ours

Going about business of its own

A language none can speak but them

High up in the branches of the trees

I would have missed the slow-moving water

The occasional splash of a large fish near the surface

The daisies enjoying their brief moment in the sun

This entire moment

Dripping in molasses

As if time has slowed around me

I would have missed the young ducks

Swaggering onto the beach

A group of hens, I think

And one drake

Just beginning to show his formative plumage

Rich periwinkle feathers showing underneath the brown

If I had stayed inside

I would have missed the green leaf

Fallen onto the paving stones

Its veins and arteries so detailed

The phloem and xylem

Like looking out the window of an airplane

At a sprawling subdivision

If I had stayed inside, I would missed

This slowing of my heart

This renewing of my mind

My ears attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit

As read and memorized verses

Come to mind

To be transformed

And not conformed

Takes some of this I think

This slowing down and noticing

Thankful for the beauty God has woven

Into the fabric of this world

Much of it going unnoticed

As my eyes, too often buried in my phone,

Keep me from really seeing