It is a beautiful hot summer day with a blue sky and high cirrus clouds. The air is quiet as we move silently along the track in search of denizens of the bush. Together with some friends I have come to spend some time 'perambulating' (as our Zimbabwean colleague would say) in the hillsides of the Magaliesburg - a 2 billion year old mountain range about an hour and a half north of Johannesburg.
The intricate creation of our world jumps out at us from the tiniest flower to the silent sweep of a butterfly's wings. We came to see the obvious - the giraffe, impala and eland but found much else besides. The larger animals were wiser than we and stayed in the cool of the shade while we stomped along in the shadeless heat looking for them.
Meanwhile our eyes and minds were enlightened by the beauty in the delicate and less obvious as well as the broad sweep of the valley below us.
So it is with much of life. We are often so consumed with our own issues, fears, agendas and intent that we miss the beauty all around us.
It is easy to miss the strength, hope and joy found in the 'little things' that are part of our every day - the smile, handshake or word of encouragement as we seek to 'fix, set and sort' the big problems of our lives. The irony and the miracle is that when we take time to stop and reflect on the nuances we often find a way through the more thorny issues that confront us.
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