Look!

Look!

  It’s one of the first words we learn.  Usually spoken with enthusiasm and sometimes even urgency, it incites curiosity, wonder, and makes us, well…look!  We must remind ourselves never to become complacent about the beauty blooming all around us.  That would be a crime.  Unpunishable – like wearing a Speedo after the age of 50, or living in Canada and not understanding hockey rules – but still a crime.   

I recently spent the day at the top of the Red Tables – thanks to my friend Larry, who not only drove us up there and told us the names of all the flowers, but put a bench with blankets in the back of the truck so we could get the full effect of the views and the smells and the jaw-dropping beauty all around us.  Also with us was my longtime friend Junanne from Fort Worth.  We took a Texas girl up to 11,000 feet and she did great – way to go Junie!

And the word I heard most often that day was, “Look!”  Usually followed by, “Wow!”  The Gore Mountain range, the Elk range, the Collegiates, wildflowers, deer – so much beauty it was hard to know just where to look. 

Sure, it’s easy to get busy and forget to look around at our gorgeous planet.  Most of us work, or go to school, or take care of families – or all three.  But the opportunities to look are endless.  Not just on a hike, or bike ride, or from the top of a mountain – but while waiting for soccer practice to end.  Or standing at the bus stop.  Or sitting at a stop light.  So what if the guy behind you honks and gives you the one-finger wave.  Feel sorry for him.  He just doesn’t get it. 

Channel your inner five-year-old.  Remind yourself to look!