It wasn’t until I got home to enlarge and crop this photo of leaves that I noticed one had a curl in the center. The leaves intersect each other in the midst of a perfect spiral. Exactly how did they get intertwined?

I often ponder that so much in nature I will never get to touch. I will never get to fully understand. The forest is too wide, the world too vast.

But in moments like these I get to hold something close because of my camera lens. It can bring something to me that I can examine almost microscopically with the aid of computer software. Something that may have been beyond my reach.

I know I will never witness exactly the same scene again. Even if I come upon the same kind of leaf, it will have variations. But the forest is full of surprises, as is life.

Once when I was out walking I encountered a crowd witnessing a scarlet tanager preening deep in the summer woods. The group was in awe so I stopped to watch along with them. “This is a very rare and secretive bird,” folks told me in a reverent and deeply hushed tone.

Years later on my daily walk, I remember saying out loud to myself, “I bet I will never get to see the tanager again. What a beautiful bird it was….”

At that exact moment, one flew in front of me and landed in a nearby tree. A part of me thought I was dreaming. But I knew in my heart it was real and it was Spirit’s way of reminding me not to make any assumptions about what is possible. Ever.

Remember the amazing beauty of what you love, and...behold the miracle when it happens. Leaf spirals, scarlet tanagers, I wonder what is around the next corner.

What will you find?

~ KB