Even Solomon

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28b-29

I didn't want to go. We had finished school early enough, Daddy wasn't home yet, we still had nearly an hour of daylight left, and the kids wanted to walk to the reservoir to fish and feed the ducks. I wanted to stay home: knit, read. I was even willing to do laundry. But I didn't want to walk to the reservoir.

When we got to the reservoir, there was no delicately tinkling ice. But there were duck feathers. Yes, duck feathers. As I looked west towards my son fishing about 40 yards away, the afternoon sun was reflecting off the multitude of duck feathers on the ground. At any other time of day, I would have barely noticed the feathers. But in just the right angle of afternoon light, they shone like cotton blanketing the ground. That was the first marvel.

Then, as I stood with my daughter, who was happily feeding four pairs of mallards, I was instantly drawn to the males' head feathers. I always picture male mallards as having the famous iridescent green heads. But in the late afternoon sun, as the ducks bobbed around catching the bread crumbs, their heads kept changing color. It was quite beautiful to behold the colors change from green to black to dark blue to eggplant. I was quite happy to stand there and watch my children and the ducks until the sun slipped down behind the mountains.

Thanks to our gracious Lord, I was able to spend some precious time with my two children, marvel in His creation, get some exercise, and learn something new. And lest I beat this nature narrative to death, I must remind myself of pompous Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

Here, leading the way through every walk and cross walk, and scarcely allowing them an interval to utter the praises he asked for, every view was pointed out with a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind.