(Photo credit: Andrew Jacke)

Time is never enough. We are always living off of “borrowed time”, yet how can we repay something that isn’t even ours to keep forever?

As I sat outside of the cabin last night in the open light of the Snow Moon’s path by the barns, I thought of how the Native Americans named all of the moons years back. They truly listened to Mother Nature, and so much of the Earth’s cycles dictated all of their actions. They were so obedient to the free teachings given daily by the universe. Here we sit today with our cell phones, tablets, and computers….. and we seem to think we know it all.

Moving to a place unfamiliar to you where you know no one can be a bit intimidating. However, everything in life is all about perspective. As I look up at this moon tonight, I am filled with so many thoughts on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The coyotes are under this same moon as I am tonight. They will come off the mountain into this very valley where I stand, and they will shred the skin of a victim if they have a chance, devouring its flesh until nothing but bones are left for display. However, they won’t do it alone. They will be in a pack. Birds of a feather flock together. Their behavior, and the actions of all creatures for that matter, is so relative to life. We really do attract what we reflect in our environment. If we prey on others and feed off of instilling fear in those around us, we will attract other beings who live life as vultures as well- hiding in the daylight, yet trying not to block the dark shadows that we have allowed our souls to become.

Then there are the chickens. They are smart enough to roost at night, yet many are completely content with where they are in life and want nothing more than pecking feed and laying eggs from day to day. Others are, however, ignorant enough to step out into the view of the hawk when the grapes fall to the ground, and if they are not careful their life will end quicker than we can blink both of our eyes. If some of them had stayed content with what they had, they wouldn’t have went looking for better food on the other side. On the contrary, some take that leap of faith for greener grass, and they make it scratch-free with nothing but some ruffled feathers along the way. Such is life. Some go looking for better and it doesn’t appear to be there, yet some of us know there is more to acquire and risk it all for the sake of gaining a brighter tomorrow. How do we divide the two? None of us have crystal balls telling us it will all be worth the blood, sweat, and tears. None of us have a fairy saying “wear waterproof mascara, because this one is going to be a hurricane… but there’s a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end.”

Down below where I stood outside in the outline of the beauty of these mountains I love, I looked out away from where the moonlight shined on my mortal soul. I saw nothing but a pitch black outline of mountaintops of various angles. I shifted my eyes to the lower field and listened as one of the horses said its goodnight prayers to the mules who protected them. I thought of how stubborn mules are- much like many of us. However, those two mules in that field protect four or more horses every day of their life. They are underestimated, but they are stronger than you could ever possibly imagine. They would give their life to protect what is theirs, and they wouldn’t think twice about it. I thought of how I would do that for anyone I loved, and I would do it wanting nothing in return but gratitude. “How different are those mules from the coyotes”, I whispered in my mind. The mules will stand with others, yet they don’t need anyone for back-up to stand alone either.

Above my head and in the distance, I can tell the time of night by the hoot of the owl.  He is out and warning the land of the approaching darkness at the same exact time every evening. This must be one of the ways our ancestors told time here in these mountains. The owl stands alone, and he doesn’t seem to talk much. He is observant, much like my Scorpio father who learns so much in life from his silence and ability to listen. I admire those owls so much. They do not fear the unknown, for they stand up top through it all and share their wisdom to all who will listen. The owl can see much farther than we do, and because he opens his eyes to vaster distances he never goes hungry. He does not settle for tunnel vision.

The wildcat is somewhere around me. I can feel her watching, but I will probably never see her any time soon. Her silky fur glistens in the daylight, and of the night her green eyes are the only window that allows you to see she exists. She will slice anything in her path just as quickly as her eyes can seduce someone. I thought of how so many people can appear to be so beautiful on the outside, but on the inside they are just tenderized and rotten flesh. We cannot allow ourselves to become that. That wildcat started as an innocent newborn, but her surroundings and the ways of the world caused her to fend for herself…. and she turned cold. That did not have to be her destiny.

Underneath that tobacco barn is the copperhead. He has no preference on who to strike and will have no mercy on whoever steps on his path. He is not the type to share and will die alone because of that very reason. He can shed his skin and appear to be the very person he is truly not, so one can easily be fooled. However, he will bring an enemy to his knees with the poison he possesses from within. His venom is so deadly, and whoever he injects with his negativity won’t have any time to rid of it. How many snakes are in our lives? I thought of times I had been betrayed and luckily made it through the venomous trails, and somehow I hadn’t let my heart wither away and stop beating yet. Instead, love from within allowed me to repel that toxicity. Maybe it was because I had experienced so much love from others in my life. Perhaps someone who doesn’t know what love truly is wouldn’t have the anti-venom to battle a snake in life. That makes loving others so much more relevant. We have to build one another up, lest we tear each other down. Words can be our anti-drugs to lift each other up, or they can be that same venom as spewed from the serpent of the ground.

As I head back up from closing the side barn up for the evening, I am followed by my most loyal companion- known to humans as a dog. Jada’s eyes glow in the night, and she has been so patient as I admired this moon and all of my surroundings. She let me ponder on how generously the birds save the night time for other creatures, such as the grasshoppers and frogs, to sing- as they are given all of the daylight hours to perform as a choir every day. So many would try to steal that spotlight throughout the night, but the birds do not. That must be where respect was born, and their wings must have evolved because of that factor. The ego is never the amigo.

Perhaps my ancestors will instruct me on how to hunt off of this land. I am doing my best to listen to their guidance from within.

There is so much to be learned from what is around us. Sure, the thousands of dollars we spend in school are educational, but my darling please listen to me. The most valuable lessons we can learn are from the very dust of the Earth, where our precious bodies were created. God returns our flesh back to that soil in due time, but until then we are reaping the seeds of our souls and sewing our own paths in life. Whether they become thorns or blossom is completely up to us.

Sometimes it is best to simply be still. What a beautiful and spiritual lesson I had outside in my yard last night. The moon can light the way just as brightly as the sun. Listen to the silence. You will be surprised what all you hear.