Be Still

Native Americans have a belief that I like to think is true… Be still…they often say…and the Earth will speak to you. There is an owl I pass every morning who stays hidden in a tree…but I always say ‘hello’ to him when he says ‘who’ to me. This is the only part of our relationship that has ever come to light…two different species…connected for a moment…as we pass each other in the night. But that all changed this morning…after we traded our normal ‘who’ and ‘hi’ when the owl took off from his hiding place and let me watch him fly. To the top of a nearby building…high above the trees…where he lingered for a moment…then repeated his ‘who’ to me. I smiled and waved at that old owl…his beauty on full display…he acknowledged my wave with a turn of his head…before he flew away. I thanked him as we flew off in that moment…however fleeting… for giving me a picture in my head of who…tomorrow…I’ll be greeting. Be still and the Earth will speak to you… Be still…she will find a way… and what’s wonderful is in that stillness… you never know what… or ‘who’…. she might say.