The other day I was washing dishes, trying to find SOMETHING good in the pile of stuck on food. I looked up and outside my kitchen window was a mourning dove watching me. It sat there, with its black eye staring me down, calmly observing.
They’re a dime a dozen around my house. Awkward, bulky critters who spend much of their time alone in my trees coming down to scavenge, and lament to one another. (Apparently they’re rather like me . . . but that’s beside the point.)
Despite my somewhat pathological fear of being in close proximity to birds, its feathers looked so soft I wanted to hold the thing. I was amazed at how many tiny feathery appendages covered just the dove’s head.
I mean have you ever looked at a mourning dove? Really looked at one.
As I snapped pictures, I wondered how many feathers there really were on his head, what they were made of, and why they all seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. So I did what any curious nerd does. I Googled it.
Can I just say that feathers are amazing? There’s a million parts to one feather and a million different kinds of feathers.
And all of a sudden I didn’t mind washing dishes. I had my own show of amazing little critters full of miraculous little feathers.
Curiosity is an amazing thing. It changes your perspective in a heartbeat.
It can make you smile, make you see something you’ve never seen before, make you want something bigger and better. It can even make your own little corner of the world a little brighter. And really, can’t we all use a little light?
So my challenge to you today is to find one thing that makes you wonder and explore the world around you. Learn something and then share it with the rest of us. Maybe I’ll be able to forget the dishes awaiting me in my sink today . . . or maybe not.