An Unexpected Path

I have been mulling for some time over the idea of starting to walk my dogs in the morning before work. Being normal (or at least I think I am), I have come up with numerous excuses, first and foremost being that we just don’t seem to have a good place to walk near our house. There is too much traffic or too many houses with dogs.

Well, this morning I decided to take the plunge. I headed a different direction than I normally have in the past. Well, not really different, but I ventured along the road farther. I have driven on this road many times to go take my garbage to the dump and always thought it was too windy and therefore dangerous to walk on. Lo and behold, when I actually walked it there was only the first curve that you have to get past and then a long straight stretch that was the exact distance for me to get to the end, turn around and have walked a total of thirty minutes by the time I got back to the house. There was an abundance of room on the side of the road for the dogs to sniff and “do their thing” to their heart’s content. Plus, it was sooooooooo peaceful!

In front of our house is a large area of farmed land that I have always enjoyed, but once you take the first turn on the road you enter into a more wooded area and it was beautiful. On my right there were two friendly brown horses that my dogs weren’t sure about. The one came immediately up to the fence and ran along beside us till he could run no farther. I had to scold the dogs a few times not to bark, but it was fun. We used to take Molly for rides in Wisconsin and show her the “horsies and the cows,” so I enjoyed pointing out to her the horsies. Her ears immediately perked up when I said the word.

Farther down on the left was a wooded, hilly area that was still blanketed with orange autumn leaves and reminded me of the woods in my beloved Minnesota. I came across a cemetery that is literally someone’s front yard, which I had never noticed before. The last part of the road stretched out with some more open areas and springtime blooming trees. I also enjoyed the sunrise as it was about 7:30 and the eastern sky was waking up. The temp was perfect at a balmy 68 degrees and the birds were singing me awake.

So, needless to say, I will be making this trek another morning, hopefully many more mornings. I was so at peace and thankful to God for this path that took me over a year of living in this house to find. Since this blog is entitled Melba’s Musings, let me muse on that for a minute. How often do we avoid paths in life because we see one turn that looks somewhat unknown or maybe even dangerous, and we miss out on all that lies beyond? I ask God that He would grant me more courage to go into the unknown and stop listening as much to my human voice that tells me I think I know what lies ahead. Only God knows.