Micro to Macrocosm

I was walking my dog Rufus earlier this morning when he paused for some serious sniffing near the neighbor's fence. Next to me was a corner brick column that anchors the fence with a large, square cement capital. While Rufus was busy sniffing around I noticed the top of the capital was covered in various lichens of different shapes and colors. Also on top were a multitude of ants scurrying about. That's when several acute thoughts struck me.

In this spot were a variety of species that inhabit the planet. Lichens, ants, trees, grasses, a canine, and a human, just to name a few. The lichens, considered by some to be the oldest living organisms on the planet, are beneficial to both trees and animals. The ants were tirelessly going about whatever their business was, probably unaware or unconcerned with the lichens. The grass and trees were soaking up the sunlight, busy with their photosynthetic business. They were unaware or unconcerned with the ants who in turn were unaware or unconcerned with the lichens. The canine was busy sniffing the ground unaware (and definitely unconcerned!) about the photosynthesis going on around it by the plant life that was indifferent to the ants who were indifferent to the lichens. The human was the only one to realize the profound nature of the moment. We were all living in our own realities, our own universes, and yet all existing in the vast and beautifully overlapping Venn diagram of life in the cosmos.

I will move through my day a little more in awe and little more humbly and tenderly.