the lincoln at sunset

being in an office all day has certainly been an adjustment. i miss outside! i miss the breeze, i miss warm air, i miss driving with the windows down and the tunes blaring. but my new job has been such a blessing because the latest i have worked in the past 2 weeks is 5:45 pm. normally i'm out the door at 5:30. so, i've been able to run a few days this week on the mall.



watching the sunset behind the lincoln memorial is incredible. i cannot describe how it feels to look at the statue of a man who was so criticized and who fought so hard for our country and to just take in life. it is impossible for me to not acknowledge that there is a God and that he is in charge of our lives. i take comfort in the fact that our current president prays everyday, just as lincoln, and that if he is seeking God's will as he says he is, there must be some justice in this war. there must be - there is a hope - behind all the death, american or not, in iraq. there must be some hope at the end of all these higher prices on gas and food and education and everything else.



i was on my way towards home last night, sloooowly jogging through the grass around the pond that stretches between the washington monument and the lincoln. there were so many geese out waddling around and it reminded me of being at lake LBJ.



in front of me i saw a mother duck, standing with her neck stretched out balancing on one foot. as i approached her i saw that she was guarding her seven or eight ducklings that were snuggled together. they had formed a perfect circle with each of their heads tucked into the center. i had never seen ducks do that! it was so cute - i would have died if i'd had a camera!



but immediately popped into my head: why don't humans do that? if a duck, a simple mother duck, can provide food, shelter, and protection for her children, why can't humans?? i know we are more complex and there are generations of hurt that flaw us, but WHY can't every mother or father just love their child and protect them? the statistics are frightening of how many american children are abused, physically, sexually, emotionally, and the numbers are staggering enough to wonder if anything can ever be done to stop the abuse.



i guess i should work on that in the future, volunteer, be kind, that sort of thing. but i think the image of those ducks will forever be engraved in my mind: how that mother duck was SO proud of her children, just for being alive, and how she so simply fulfilled her duty to raise them. if the ducks can do it, certainly we can too?