I was at a friend’s property and walking along a wooded path taking in the glorious greens of nature and came upon a bubbling pond.  I stopped to look at the water’s edge then noticed the fish just below the surface, come to look at their new guest.  So shyly do they come to watch, fins waving back and forth slowly, keeping them moving but staying in the same place.  A brave one pokes his face above the surface to get a closer look and he looks me straight in the eye and then dips slowly back into his own world.  The brave fish swims off to tell his friends that he dared to get a closer look at what was beyond the pond and he found it was benevolent and good; he encouraged everyone to go look for themselves.

Three little yellow and green fish went together, since there is strength in numbers, and two of them stood guard by a fallen branch while the brave one poke his fishy face above the surface.  He too encountered the visitor and was rewarded for his bravery by a broad smile and a breadcrumb, which he quickly ate, forgetting for a moment that his friends were nearby and would have liked a crumb of bread themselves.

He hurried and swam to his friends and encouraged them to look for themselves, which they did together, receiving a big smile, a hello AND a giant breadcrumb to share between them.  They were elated to discover that not only was there something which existed OUTSIDE the pond which they grew up in, that “something” was kind and good AND gave them each a big tasty breadcrumb to eat!  They dashed back home to tell everyone that they could receive smiles and breadcrumbs and all they had to do was dare to poke their nose above the pond’s surface.

Some of the older fish already knew that from their daring younger days but seldom ventured from the security of the bottom of the pond because it was, well, more comfortable and convenient where they were.  And you couldn’t always depend on getting a breadcrumb.  In the past, some of the fish had leapt above the surface of the pond as they were being chased by bigger fish and thus were unaware of the beauty that existed beyond the pond as their attention had been focused upon running away from the bigger fish in a fight for their own life.

Still others had never attempted to look beyond the surface, and decried long and loud that nothing else existed because they had not seen it themselves.  (Many of them, in fact, didn’t even believe there was any such thing as The Pond because no one had yet proved its existence to them.)

One young fish who thought he knew everything went around telling everyone that he had once dared to poke his nose above the surface and encountered a giant creature, larger than any fish he’d ever seen, and it was resting on an oak branch that had fallen into the water.  As soon as the bragging fish poked his face above the surface, the creature opened its mouth wide to eat him and he barely escaped with his life.  He had not attempted to seek beyond the pond since then.

Some of the fish believe the stories of the older fish; some believed the story of the know-it-all fish and some believed that no pond existed at all and that such discussions were a waste of time.

Others knew that to find out the true story, they would have to poke their own faces above the surface.

Some did and told everyone of the beauty they discovered.  Some did and found nothing much to report.  Some did and didn’t understand what they encountered, so they depicted a frightening scene as they wove their tale to the others.  Soon they began believing their own tale and remained frightened ever since.

But I digress.  I love those little spontaneous meditations 🙂   After a short rest at the pond I got up and resumed my walk.  I walked past huge oaks laden with moss, past wild orange trees where the air was heavy with the sweet, sharp fragrance of the sour orange bloom.  I went home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.  Another day in paradise.