On a recent visit to Louisiana I stopped my car to look at a vast teeming area of swamp. Coming from Western Canada such a sight fascinated me. I stood on a small roadway that skirted the area and looked down. The water was green and filled with slime. Every now and then the surface would be broken by a snake that's slithered by in silence. It was ugly and forbidding and I shivered a bit looking at it. But then I looked up and there above me were the green leaves of the live oak hung heavy with lacey spanish moss. Beautiful tropical vines flowed like a carpet from the tops of the trees to the roots below. The scent of rare flowers filled the air and every now and then a snow white graceful egret bird flew by. I wondered as I stood there how many people came to this spot and saw only the muck and mire below the eye level, rather than the beauty that was there to enjoy simply by looking up. It is a pitiful fact that many of us go through life seeing only the dirt simply because we will not open our eyes to the beauty. I was impressed that day too with the fact that all the magnificence above me was actually born in the mire below. I hope you'll remember this little story as you go about your daily chores. Remember there is always dirt if you care to look for it, but if you'll just lift up your eyes, there is beauty.
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