A Morning Reflection

“Meet me in morning stillness, while the earth is fresh with the dew of My Presence.”

by Sarah Young

 This morning I nudged my warm sleepy dog out the door to do her business.  Feeling the cool morning air she attempted to convince me that REALLY she did not need to go,  looking imploringly at me with her sleepy dog eyes.

“No really, you must go.  I’m not convinced.” I whispered into her ear as I gave her head a scratch.  I gently closed the kitchen door behind her and pretended to go about my chores.

She hesitantly stepped out from the protection of the front porch and wandered in the direction of my garden. I watched. I saw her nose lift to the wind and the small bellows of her cheeks begin to work.

My dog is bred to hunt birds.  Her nose plays a dominate role in her life – at times she is ruled by it.  If we humans had anywhere near the sense of smell as these animals,  our experience of life around us would be dramatically different.  Scents tell a story.  Dogs ~ and my dog particularly is an excellent translator of this complicated language.

Next thing I know she is alert and sniffing along the perimeter of my flower bed.  Each frond of a fern is examined carefully with her nose.  She has forgotten the cold and her discomfort.  Intent on interpreting the  activity of the night she spends a good minute in one spot.  I marvel.  What in the world could smell that  interesting?

I see her slowly lift her pointing foot as she interprets,  the hunter in her genes awakened.  Transfixed I watch her nose drop to the ground and begin to sweep back and forth as she works her way down the path.  I smile to myself,  glad she is awakening to a fresh dewy new morning,  wishing she could tell me the story.

I felt the Spirit stir within, inviting me to see with different eyes. My imagination awakened as I stood and watched her absolute determined focus.

“Is it your presence she is picking up Lord?  Is it your scent you have left for her.  I think of you walking in the early dawn light, in the newness of the day when the fragrance of the spring blossoms peak.  Does God walk in my garden?  If I could see as sharply as my dog smells would I see your footprints in the dew on the grass?  Are you that close ?  Are you as excited by my yard as I am?  Did you see the native orchid? And look how the creeping dogwood has taken off!  Lord, do you hear the call of the songbirds to one another?  Of course you do, you gave them life.  I hear them too Lord and my heart swells with gratitude.”

Moving outside to sit on the porch, I watch as my dog takes her time following clues upon the wind.  Working those canine bellows she is led through the story of the night before.  I wonder as I watch her, how do I let God  lead me? What are the God given intuitive gifts in me?

Stretching fully, flexing every muscle, she turns to give me a wag and a woof as she lopes back to greet me.  My dog reads her morning scripture in the scents of my front yard.  I can’t help but feel she has begun another day reminded of who she is when she follows what comes easily and naturally.  She was made to hunt and she knows it.

Hmmmm, I wonder?  Do I move so naturally and easily in the gifts that God has given me?  This morning I am met in this quiet,  simple moment while watching my dog.   I hear His song through the trees and breathe in the fresh air of his presence.  He is here and He speaks to me, inviting me to ponder how I am uniquely made.   Here in this moment,  lies the mystery of how the living God may come to me,  if I pause long enough to let it be.

---

Cindy Peterson is a native of the Pacific Northwest. Mother of four, Grandmother, wife and lover of God. Captivated by the redemptive work of God through story in the small group setting. Outdoors woman, athlete, gardener, photographer. She loves to run in the woods with her dogs.  She writes here.n
nbso
nbs
obsp nbsp

---