It’s the fuzzy green, mossy growth blanketing a tree stump a few yards off a Hildene walking path. It’s soft, with amazing variations in pattern and color that can only be seen up close. If I didn’t know that this was taken with a zoom lens, I’d assume this photo was of some kind of fir tree. I’d assume a different, larger scale – that it would appear this way to my naked eye.

Why do I assume that reality is limited to my perspective, my scale, my observational vantage point? In truth, what I miss seeing is far more than what I do see. I ignore so much more than I attend to, and my world is poorer for it.

But there’s something holy and marvelous to knowing that. It’s a relief that the beauty, mystery, and deep life of this cosmos isn’t limited by my dubious observational ability…

[This is one in a series, At My Feet. Click the title above for more information.]