MEDITATIONS

                        DO NOT GO WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD;
                                 GO INSTEAD WHERE THERE IS NO PATH
                                           AND LEAVE A TRAIL.
                                                 Ralph Waldo Emerson

      Time is a paradox.  When we are enjoying something it seems to fly by.  When we aren't enjoying things it seems to drag by.  No matter what is going on in life the older you get the faster time goes and does not stop.
     Fall is showing it's self and I have been running around like I really have things to do.  There is an advantage to living on a hill, in a pasture, on open range.  I can take a minute to look out the window and see things that 95% of everyone else in the world does not.
     Every time I get in the truck I know that I will see deer, turkey, and dozens of other sights that those jammed into cities and towns don't.  The occasional coyote comes through the yard and all kinds of birds.  It is not long and the sounds of sand hill cranes, ducks, geese, and other migrating birds will be everywhere.  Maybe even a glimpse of the Whooping Cranes going by.  I saw 3 of them 4 years ago.
     It is hard to believe that things we see on TV really go on and that there is so much bad in the world.  So many will stay blissfully ignorant or just believe what they wish when it is not right outside their window.
     We are reminded of how much we take for granted every time we have guests who marvel at the sight of the night sky and are awed at the stars that they never get to see.  Many guests are wonderfully educated or do, or have done, interesting work.  Many live exotic lives in places I have only seen on TV or in a book.  Yet they marvel at what I see everyday.
     I am even more entertained by those 'other' Kansas people who come to our hills and cannot believe what they are seeing.  I delight in the comments that people make from many places, especially where 'southern hospitality' is at, about how friendly the Kansas people have been to them.
     In order to stay fully appreciative of what I am privileged to see I love to set with the dog on the deck, look down into the hills, and thank God for the place and time we have been given.  Then add a prayer for the United States that it not be lost by those who cannot see the blessings we have been granted.