Time and Opportunity

   This morning is one of those times where any spiritual lessons will be the result of what was on my mind when I woke up. It may be the cart driving the horse, but this is what impressed me this morning.

   I woke up with not too much time on my hands before an early morning meeting. Just a few minutes to open my computer, see what emails were waiting for me there, open the devotional thought for the day, and hop in the car and drive. So, my thoughts were on time, or the lack of it, to do an adequate job on prayer, study or writing.

   Then, as I drove into the Village for this meeting, my thoughts went back to yesterday and how time played a part in a pleasant experience on my part.

   Mayre had a hair appointment over on the other end of Brunswick late in the afternoon, and, since she is not driving now, I drove her over there. I knew I would have a few minutes to wait for her to finish, so I took my camera with some ideas in mind as to where I could go to practice using it. On the way, and not too far from the "hair lady's" house and shop, we passed by the Blythe Island Regional Park. I knew it was there, but had not thought to make that my experimental spot.

   You never know what is waiting in a particular time and place, there is just the opportunity to use the time and find out. So, I drove the couple of miles back to the park, parked and took my camera to see what was there. The park was almost empty of people, but the weather was beautiful, and I thought there must be something that would catch my eye to practice on.

   I walked out on the boat launching ramp, just to check out the surroundings and try to find a spot where I would not be shooting right into the late afternoon sun. Then I happened to look up and this was looking down at me.

   The pelican looked right at home, but, I thought, he did not know if I was supposed to be there. All he (or was it a she?) moved was his head. Of course he was 6 or 8 feet over my head, so there was no danger to him from me, so he just watched.

   Then as I walked along another walkway area, I noticed some other wildlife, sitting on the handrail.

   I guess I had never noticed this particular type of gull before, but he was very striking. With his gray or black head, red beak and other markings, he was just a picture waiting to be taken. After I got home and looked him (or her) up on the Internet, I discovered he was probably a Laughing Gull and a young one of those.

   As I was driving back to the "hair place", I thought of all the ways I could have spent, or wasted, those few "waiting" minutes, and I was happy that God had shown fit to put these two bird specimens in my path.

   I did not know what was out there, I only knew I had a few minutes and wanted to use them. The Time was there. The Opportunity was there. All I had to do was open my eyes to see the world around me.

   Maybe there is a spiritual lesson in this after all.