Christian Living

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I was awoken at 5am by the sound of a crying toddler. I got up and saw to Jessie, then went back to bed. The early morning light was filtering in to my bedroom through the frosted glass in the French doors. I rolled over and tried to fall asleep again but I was stiff and restless. Miss Terrible Two-year-old didn’t take long before she was up and wanting to start her day, coming into the bedroom ¾ hour later. Her daddy told her to go back to bed – it wasn’t getting up time yet! She toddled back, whingeing sadly to herself. In bed, I stretched, I turned, I prayed… I practised thinking calm thoughts, but I couldn’t get back to sleep.

“I may as well get up and go for a walk,” I told Bruce at 6 o’clock. He was snuggled into the blankets trying to reclaim lost sleep also.

“Yeah, go on,” he said supportively – anything to leave him in some peace!

I got dressed and swung my camera bag over my shoulder, tightening the strap so it wouldn’t move around too much. I quietly went downstairs and crunched over the rocky ground and up the driveway. Usually, I head to the west in the afternoons, wearing a child carrier on my back, with Jessie loaded on board. Together we go up the road to the bus-stop to meet my older daughter. Sometimes our two cats follow and enjoy looking at the rabbit warrens under the blackberry patches in the paddocks. This time, I planned to head east and go down the road, to enjoy the natural bush.

I was surprised at how much easier it was to walk up the hill, without the weight of Jessie on my back. The cats were trailing me, expecting the usual trek. At the top gate I followed the track to my left, instead of the right. I walked along past our neighbour’s place and then onto the road where it descends the hill quite suddenly. Here, I could see the morning sun dazzling across the mountains, with black cattle grazing on shaded green hills. I stopped to take a few photographs.

I started carefully striding down the dusty road surface, then towards the bottom of the hill I broke into a jog. This was good! I breathed deeply and enjoyed the movement that my body so desperately needed. I continued trotting along and looked back to see that the cats had been left way behind, as I had expected. Wallabies darted away from the roadside as I approached, and the dappled sunlight made patterns on the ground. I was almost arrested by the scenic sights in the fresh morning, but I resolved to get at least 10 minutes of good jogging in before I stopped to take more photos.

I reached the half-way point of my route; the culvert where the gully runs underneath the road. Here I unpacked my camera from its case again and tried to capture the essence of the plants gleaming in the early morning light. I spent a while using different settings and wishing I were a master nature photographer like Steve Parrish or Ken Duncan. I accepted that I wasn’t and simply had to stop taking photos and continue my jog.

From the gully, I turned and ran back up the hill – or should I say, trotted. I hadn’t gone far when I saw yet another stunning photo opportunity. A vine with pinkish flowers was draped around a gum tree. I hadn’t seen these flowers before and so it was lovely to get some close-ups of them. Maybe someone could identify them from the photos. I walked a little bit further and saw pools of water down in the bottom of the gully that was now parallel to the road. I took some more photos, then had to jog a bit to make up for lost time.

My return journey followed the same pattern – walk a bit, take some photos, then jog to catch up. Someone could easily question why I took so many photos of trees and plants but to me, they all looked so beautiful! God’s creation is amazing in its diversity and complexity.

I eventually came back to the base of the hill where I’d left the cats behind. I called them, and heard a ‘meow’ in reply. Both cats came out from their hide amongst the logs and grass beside the road. Now they were walking beside me as I strode up the steep incline. As we neared the neighbour’s place we took the side-track and here we surprised little red-neck wallabies grazing amongst the greenery. The cats growled at these large
beasts and they looked nervously over their shoulders, jumping at the slightest crack of sticks in the bush. Like scared rabbits, I thought. That was ironic, as they’d been eating lots of bunnies lately. You are what you eat.

I almost walked past a giant bull-ant dragging a dead grub across the ground. My camera was pulled out again and I manoeuvred the lens up as close as I could to get a close-up of the insect. He quickly noticed the attention and dropped his loot to rear up and start attacking the camera. It was pretty funny. I left him in peace and packed up the camera. I opened the gate at the top of our driveway and started walking down, taking in the wonderful view to the north-east.

I’d woken up earlier than I wanted to this morning, but ended up being abundantly blessed. I walked, I jogged, I got fresh air and saw some delightful aspects of the world I live in. There’s not much moral to this story, except: What a beautiful day! Get out there and see for yourself.

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