Finding beauty close to home

Since finishing paid employment (for now), I have taken to going for a walk up the hill near my house. It's not very high, especially as I am definitely not starting from sea level, but it's a pleasant walk and, on a clear day, the views are well worth the effort.

It's 8 years since I moved to the town I live in. I have been up the hill a only couple of times (quite literally) since then. I don't think I'd really appreciated the area around the hill until yesterday. At the bottom of the hill is a local nature reserve and site of special scientific interest (SSSI). It's a former quarry, which has flooded and nature has taken back.

Trees reflected in disused quarry

And hasn't mother nature done a great job? There's reeds, brambles, wild raspberries, birch, sycamore, swans, heron and coots that I have seen during my walks. I've also heard blue tits, robins, blackbird and the occasional buzzard. There must also be toads, too. Yesterday the heron had caught one - a big one at that. Apparently, early in the morning roe deer can sometimes be spotted. All in all, not bad for a disused quarry next to a former mining town.

I haven't noticed this before as I hadn't opened my eyes to what was there, right in front of them. I hadn't walked by there. I'm glad I do now. I could sit in this little oasis of calm for hours, just listening to the birdsong and watching the goings on of the various animals which inhabit the area.

It also makes me think how often do we not visit areas, as we do not expect to see beauty in them? Or, we go somewhere else to experience beauty, calm and peace, rather than finding it close to home. Finding it with and in God. God who in in nature and in each and every one of us. God, who sent Jesus to die for us, so we may have life in all its fullness. Just as life has burst forth in this disused quarry.