During the first week of every month I spend some time reading over the previous month’s journal entries.
Here are some thoughts from November that jumped out at me.

– Nov. 2: Being still before God doesn’t mean extending a lot of effort to be still. Just. Be. Still. Nothing. Not waiting, not concentrating, not trying to reach some state of consciousness. Just. Be. Still. Not even worrying about listening. God will get your attention if there is something you need to hear.

-Nov. 3: Picked up Fisher two years ago today. Only dog I ever had that wasn’t submissive or aggressive toward other dogs. Who knew dogs can be a non-anxious presence?

-Nov. 6: Noticing that when stressed or fearful I am tempted to hide in magical thinking (“Lord, give me a sign” and such). Need to take a breath and act with wisdom, competence, and practical action.

-Nov. 10: Sometimes I sit outside and think how wonderful it is to own seven beautiful, wooded acres in the NC mountains, to be able to call it mine. Then I notice that the squirrels don’t mind me and the stones that were here when these hills were being pushed up are chuckling at me.

– Nov. 27: Watched a leaf fall this morning; a big yellow one, one of the very last from the tulip poplar outside my window. It banged into a couple of branches on its way down and came to a rest to the right of a stone I had placed there a while back. The entire summer on the tree, breathing and taking in light. Just a few seconds from limb to earth.

A chickadee perched above it and pooped, missing it to the left, but not on the stone. Close one.

This leaf came from a tree that I have watched grow for over ten years. A tree I will, regrettably, most likely have to take down one day as it’s on a hill and too close to the house.

Maybe I saw this leaf, without really seeing it, in the spring when it budded and announced, along with its fellow leaves, the changing season. It was certainly a part of the foliage that blocked my view of the road I will be able to see clearly through the winter.

Now it lies in the sun, awaiting rain, snow, colder days, and its decomposing. Most likely the wind will move it to another spot or two before it finally rests and becomes becomes a part of the soil, then a part of another plant, perhaps a leaf that will bud, bring shade, then fall.

I watched a leaf fall this morning. Not leaves, a leaf.