Finding Stillness Amid Holiday Bustle

Imagine crossing a snow-covered landscape with the instincts of a red fox, each step driven by acute senses and a quest for survival. This week on the Create Harmony podcast, we explore the inspiring tale of the red fox from Gail Boss’s "All Creation Waits." In a world bustling with holiday chaos, we find ourselves drawn to the quietude of nature, learning invaluable lessons in patience and focus. Her tale invites us to pause, reflect, and find solace amid our busy routines. Could there be a connection between the fox's nightly quest and the way we navigate through our own holiday season? Discover how her story encourages us to be present, to listen, and to see joy hidden in the folds of our daily lives. Embrace these moments of tranquility, letting them guide you toward finding the small joys in your everyday life. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome back to the Create Harmony podcast. Our focus here on the podcast are all those joyful things that are around us all the time. That joy is just nestled down in little things. It's the feeling you have when you open your eyes in the morning and you're snuggled in your warm bed. It's the taste of a fall, snuggled in your warm bed. It's the taste of a fall apple, the laugh of a friend, the smell of a fire burning, the color of a beautiful fall tree. Each of those things holds a tiny little piece of joy and it just takes a moment to notice it. I'm your host, Sally Bur, and this is episode 102.

Speaker 1: 0:46

So we're continuing our Advent content for this year, as we are going through a time in life that is loud and busy and there just seems to be many, many to-do lists and things to check off and a lot of activities swirling around in the world around us. We are taking a look at nature Because at this time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere nature quiets down, Nature is dormant, the days are darker and more subtle, Everything in nature is a little more subdued and we are sort of taking a page from that book. Literally, we are using a book called All Creation Waits by Gail Boss. The concept here is that we are looking at individual nature stories where things are slowing down, becoming more quiet and dormant, and looking at that as a source of inspiration for our own lives. So the book is filled with stories of creatures in the wild and how they're waiting through this season. So we've already heard the story of the honeybee and we last week we heard the story of the chipmunk. So this week we're going to hear the story of the red fox and, as I've done in previous weeks, I want to just urge you to think about it, take a pause. Let this be a source of quiet in your busy, busy lives and let it inspire you. Pay attention to what jumps out at you, what catches your attention here and how does it speak to you as you journey through your holidays.

Speaker 1: 2:17

So here we go into the story of the Red Fox Slow to wake, morning seeps in gray and grainy Startling, then the quick orange brush stroked against the snow at the field's edge, her signature curving into the thicket and gone. Finally the fox will rest. The thicket and gone. Finally the fox will rest, it's likely. She's been out since the sun set yesterday, 15 dark hours ago, Hours keenly focused on quieting her hunger. The berries and autumn fruits she loves are gone. The beetles, other insects and lizards perished or burrowed underground. Most birds bar flown and few creatures have died from exposure this early in the winter, or she would feed her urgent body with those fallen ones. I turn my route toward her vanishing point, Intersecting her tracks. I follow them and see them change. They will fall closer together and pivot a quarter turn, then stop For six feet or so. The snow lies quiet, unbroken.

Speaker 1: 3:39

Minutes ago, the fox was trotting westward across the field when tiny rustling, shuffling, squeaking sounds rippled through the snow from as far away as a football field. Into the soft receptacles of her ears she stopped. She copped her head side to side, right ear high, left ear high, measuring the split second lag between the rustle squeak reaching one ear than the other. Thus she estimated where, under the white expanse, its source stirred. But to stay alive she needs precision.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Once she'd taken the sounds measured, she crept ahead, ears alert, furred pillows of her paws falling, with less than a whisper on the snow. Then, still listening, she turned, aiming her body of attention just east of true north. She saw north, it seems Earth's magnetic field creates a patch of shadow on her eye's retina to show her north. When she turned north, the shadow she saw went ahead of her, step by deliberate step, Hooming in. She lined up the shadow, always the same precise distance from her, with the shifting under snow sound. For a breath she crouched. Then she reared onto her hind legs, knees bent, launching up and out on a trajectory into which she had factored speed and direction of the invisible scurrying depth and resistance of the snow cover. In midair she made a minute correction with the rudder of her tail, At the peak of a precisely ordered arc. She plunged For a silent instant. She seemed headless in the snow. Then she wriggled up out of the crater she'd made Righted, she lifted her muzzle skyward and gulped.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Though she listens intently to detect the distant wisp of sound, though she trains on it the whole of her attention, allowing no distractions as she moves in with steps polished into silence. In winter, these remarkable powers are insufficient To complete them. To find hidden nourishment, she must turn in the direction of the shadow. If she leaps without its reliable lead, she will come up empty four or five times Following it. She is fed. So that's our nature story for today and hopefully it will give you a sense of peace and calm, and that you were able to pay attention to what jumped out at you. What message you want to take from that as you scurry through your busy season of holiday hullabaloo and hope you'll come back next week as we consider another story from all creation weights as a way of settling our minds. And until next time, peace, Thank you.