Today I was out on a quick morning ride in my hometown in Minnesota, otherwise known as "God's Country." I was moving along quickly as I needed to be back at my parents' to head out for a morning kayak with my Dad. I was about half way around my 14 mile loop when all of a sudden I felt something hit my forehead where my helmet met my skin, and then a horrible stinging sensation right above my right eyebrow. I reached up and felt something crunch under my fingers as I pulled the small kamikaze pilot away, but the damage had been done. I had been stung.
I pulled over quickly and took out my cell phone to see the carnage. My forehead was red and slightly swollen in the area of the small battle wound. I was pretty sure I wasn't allergic to bee stings, but I had a moment of panic that I couldn't breathe and realized it was simply because I had been biking the last 20 minuets and in fact, NOT dying.
As I got myself back together, I checked my phone and realized my dad had called and left a voicemail to meet him down at the local bar for breakfast instead of going back to the house. So as I got back into the saddle with a new end goal in sight, I took a moment to see the sunrise that I had been riding with all morning. The way the rays rolled over the cornfields and onto the river beside me. The sound of the birds waking up and starting their day. The smell of the last days of summer and felt the hunger in my belly with the promise of hot coffee waiting for me at the bar.
The string had hurt, but it also had worked to wake me up. I was so caught up in my thoughts and the road, that I didn't look around me and I didn't hear the change of plans that would only make my morning better.
So many times in life we experience wake-up calls - from unexpected news about a family member or friend, to changes in the work place, or simply that it was time to make a personal change - wake up calls come in all shapes and sizes. Some come over the phone when you are thousands of miles away and others are simply as small as a bee, but regardless of the size you should always listen to them. To take a moment to stop, look around you and appreciate all the greatness around and all of the amazing people in your life, and to know that no matter the change that may happen that this life is a good one. One worth living and seeing and enjoying every moment of.
Stings happen. They hurt and can leave a mark. But how you handle the damage is what makes you stronger and better, and much more aware of everything in that moment. The moment you wake up.
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| A beautiful sunrise in God's Country |
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