It is Friday and according to the weather experts, the warmest day of the summer so far. I am sitting under our gazebo. The sun is shining in all its glory. The weather is warm. I am enjoying a cool breeze. The breeze sets the trees in perpetual motion. The leaves create a pleasant rustling sound as they dance to whatever unheard sound the wind makes. It’s peaceful. It is a beautiful day. I feel one with my surroundings.

A brown squirrel squeezed its way into the yard from under the fence. In a jerking motion it hops this side and that, poking its nose into the ground after every hop. Is it looking for nuts it had buried, but forgotten where, as squirrel are wont to do? The squirrel’s mission was abruptly cut short when a chipmunk also entered the yard. The chipmunk promptly proceeded to chase the squirrel. They both disappeared under the fence only to reappear running up a tree; squirrel in front and chipmunk in hot pursuit. I do not know what the squirrel felt but I felt it was stupid to let a little thing like a chipmunk put it on the run.

I watched a bee visiting the flowers and a pair of robins pulling worms from the ground. They were disturbed from their meal by a black squirrel that squeezed its way into the yard. It stood on its hind legs and seems to be surveying the area. Apparently deciding that the birds were no threat, it then made its way across the green grass, across the concrete and through the gate. The trees continue to dance in the breeze. At that moment I felt the whole creation was praising God. Ah, what feeling of contentment came over me.

Surrounded by the quiet, caressed by the cool breeze, surrounded by the rustling leaves, entertained by the dancing trees and amused by the life forms that visited the yard, I mused how little it takes to make one contented, at peace and joyful. There is an abundance of these simple joys the Lord puts all around us. Yet how easy and often we fail to see them. Too often we allow ourselves to be distracted by all kinds of things that eventually prove inconsequential to our life. Too often we think that unless lots of money and things are involved the good times will elude us. This warm summer’s day under the gazebo reminded me that the good life is constituted in more than just money and things. Just look around you. You could be pleasantly surprised by what you see.