Soaring with the gulls

This afternoon, I drove over to a nearby shopping mall to pick up craft supplies for my art classes tomorrow.  I eased into the parking space, put on the brake before turning the car off, and casually looked up through the windshield to behold a magical sight.

Above me, around me, wheeling and whirling through the air, were a dozen seagulls.  They swooped, they hovered, they dived to grab a bit of food in their beaks before taking off again, and they circled - they circled around my car.  I was surrounded by them.  It was as though they had gathered there to herald my arrival and then perform their aerial feats of wonder for me.


It was a supernatural experience.  I felt as though I were briefly in some magical realm, with time and reality suspended while the seagulls soared and dipped around me.  Finally, the gulls flew away one by one, circling further and further out until they were gone.I regretfully wrenched myself back to the real world, still filled with awe at the beauty and mystery of the experience.


I have been trying to design a banner with a dove, fretting about which view of the dove, how should it be flying, where are its wings spread, and here, all around me, were examples of every possible position I could have dreamed of.

Thanks, God, for the reminder of the wonder that exists all around us everyday, just beneath the veil of the ordinary.