Our senses are peaked and on high alert! My husband and I had just pulled into the parking lot at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary for a 10:30 am guided discovery hike. From the Audubon Center, the 2.5 mile hike along the boardwalk meanders through pine flatwoods, open praire, wetlands, a strand of pond cypress, and finally into a forest of ancient bald cypress, where massive giants tower 100 feet into the sky. While waiting for the guide, we joined a group of eager naturalists to observe a flock of strikingly colored Indigo buntings winging to the feeders outside the porch off the building near the trailhead. “Oh look,”someone exclaimed! A red bellied woodpecker with a bright red head zoomed in for a quick snack.
Expectations were already running high among the group gathered. This morning’s hike promises adventure and sightings of flora and fauna along the route. Sun on our shoulders, together we meander through just a portion of the 13,000 acres of pristine wilderness. “Do you see the circles in the water?”, our guide exclaims enthusiastically, “Bait fish jumping; food for the herons, egrets, the wading birds we’d been spotting along the trail. Following the boardwalk we spied a young alligator lounging on a wide floating sea of water lettuce. Do you realize those sabal palms you see all around us are Florida’s state trees. They are so slow growing, the roots alone take 15 years! They are older than you would imagine from just looking at them,” our guide shared. “Beneath the surface an expansive system of roots provide cover for crayfish, tilapia, and other small fish.”
Moving forward, we linger and admire the impressive bald cypress, adorned with bromeliads, vines and orchids. Senses, now wide awake, our guide pointed out one of my favorite discoveries, “Look at the brown, dry, dead looking vine, crawling up that bald cypress over yonder. This remarkable plant reveals rainfall and returns to a vibrant green just thirty minutes after it rains. Called the Resurrection Fern, it is quite amazing, “she exclaimed. “In dry periods it looks to be dead and springs to life when the overcast sky delivers rain.”
As I journey along my life’s path today, encourage me to look through your eyes, Lord, and to speak your words of faith into peoples’ lives. Embolden me to be more like Sherlock Holmes! Awaken my senses and make me more aware of how to use your words to encourage my neighbors. And by neighbor, I mean anyone who not only lives next door, but someone God is calling me to notice within my sphere of influence this day. Let me learn to see what Jesus sees as I engage with others along my life path. Juggle my brain to pray the 3-open prayer “Lord, open a door; Lord, open their heart; Lord, open my mouth”—Thank you, Ron Hutchcraft. Help me to tell my story and possibly, just possibly, God could use it to change their story…perhaps forever. We just do the footwork, and trust God for the results.
Deep roots in Christ, like those of the Florida Sabal palm trees, often take years to grow, develop and become that strong foundation as we live our lives and grow up in Him. As we dig into the nourishing soil of God’s Word in the Bible, our roots keep growing deeper and our faith gets invigorated. 1 John 5: 14-15 “Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”NKJV
Susan Hurd