This evening, as I soaked in the hot tub outside, a thought crossed my mind, “This hot water feels so good. Why?” I then thought about people who like to get into a warm bath, turn down the lights and perhaps light a small candle, and they let the moment sooth their body and their mind. Why do we get to enjoy that type of experience? I understand it biologically and psychologically. However, at least for me, there is a sort of astonishment about the entire experience

Being outdoors, I could also hear our wind chimes chiming. Again, I thought, “That sound is so beautiful? Why do I get to hear it and experience it?” I basically understand the physical reasons for the sounds of wind chimes, yet again, how wonderful is it to experience that sound?

Next, a frog began making his evening frog sounds over by the koi pond. I’ve noticed that many sounds in nature have a rhythm and a cycle. The doves out behind barn make a distinctive cooing sound with an ebb and flow to it. So do the summer crickets in the evening. When I am on an ocean beach, I hear that coming and going pattern in the waves. It is even in my breathing. It is a decline and then a rebirth.

As I was thinking about these things, I noticed that the day’s storm clouds were moving out quickly and the stars were becoming visible. I then thought of my oldest grandchild who was discussing with his grandmother today the possibility of holding his wedding out here in late summer. I remembered the first time I saw him when he came home from the hospital. I held his tiny, delicate little hand. Such purity and such a blessing. I remember thinking, “I feel like I am holding hands with God.” Not that he was a god, but that God’s presence was intimate and full during that moment. There was something supernatural and I have never forgotten that feeling.

A few years later, I was babysitting a very young granddaughter while another grandbaby was being born. After the delivery, I brought her up to meet her new cousin at the hospital. As she was being held and looking down at the newborn, she just stared at him. Then, suddenly, she took her pacifier out of her mouth and tried to give it to the baby. It was an astonishing moment of caring.

Whether all this is supernatural or super and natural, depending on your perspective, life is full of these moments, sights, and sounds along with the soothing warm water of a hot tub, bathtub, or shower – and it all feels so good and we live in the midst of it.