I don’t claim to have any special insights, but I know one thing. Life is rich, and life is full…of life

As I was watering the container plants, a small black beetle hurried across the gray concrete driveway. It scurried into the open; onto what for us would have been an area larger than a dozen football fields. It was a small black dot, moving on a vast field of gray

Earth is the only place in the universe where this could have happened. No other planet has anything living on it that we know of, but here we have life on life. We have so much life we call them pests and kill them by the millions. The same minuscule insect, or rodent on any other planet would be heralded as the find of the century. But here we destroy them with impunity.

Life is more than breathing and procreation. At least for us humans. Life is our chance to live. To grow, create beauty, search for truth and love. It’s also fleeting. Bordered on each end by inability, and cherished only when its end grows near. But why bother? A dog has a more grounded feeling for life than we humans. It does what it does. What a dog always does. We humans drift around in life like ships lost at sea.

Life, for most of us, is a collection of paydays and hopeful thoughts. Paydays provide for the present, and hopeful thoughts for the future. We’re the only creature with any control of our destiny. Yet, we’re the most isolated from just existing and enjoying the gift of life.

Stop what you’re doing and look at the life around you. Take a deep breath, read a good book, watch a bee pollinate a flower, or help someone. We should take time to appreciate…life.