Snakes in my path

This is my path. Well, Its me on my path. Below are pictures of my actual path. Before we moved here 11 years ago it was just pure weeds and sunflowers but, our constant treks to the lake and to "Pooh Corner" have forged out a nice path that I now jog on daily. I know my path so well that I can jog it with my eyes closed. It has slight inclines, declines, bumps, ant piles...Texas size... and other curves, corners, turns and stumps but with my eyes closed I could run it all the way to Pooh and back which is about 1/2 mile. This is because I am extremely familiar with the path. I know every corner, curve and turn. I know where the trees are and where the lake is. I have been walking and jogging this path several times daily for years.

When I jog, I do not listen to music or have anything going on except my own prayers and thoughts before God. I often am not even thinking about where I am going ...I'm just going and praying and thinking and trucking along.

Because this path is so familiar to me I no longer think about it. I don't look down when I jog. I don't worry which way to go. Its memorized. Blindfold me and off I go. But, sometimes things happen to throw me off guard, such as rain. Rain has completely soaked my path. The lake is so near that if it rains again it will probably cover it. So when it rains and there are huge puddles in my path then I have to think about my next move. I have to pay attention to where I am going and avoid the mud puddles. Sometimes I miss and my shoe gets pulled off or I slip.



Here it is, completely soaked. This is how it looked today. And not only did I have to avoid puddles, as I was jogging I got to a place of dryness so I began my almost blind jog back home when all the sudden, as I was jogging... my mind jolted... what had I just jogged over...what was in my path... I had literally jogged over something not familiar...although I wasn't paying attention...in a quick second my brain recognized something different was on my otherwise dirt path...so I stopped, looked back and there it was... a snake... a snake in my path. It took me a moment to process this foreign object now on my pathway and then I became a bit bothered because I could of stepped on it or gotten bitten... it was out of my comfort zone... disturbing my peace of mind. However, I went ahead and got a stick and moved him along...he seemed more scared of me and frozen on my path... not moving or breathing or even hissing at me so I poked him and he slithered off. Of course after this very brief encounter, on my next round I was neurotically staring at the path in front of me to make sure I didn't see a snake.

This reminds me of life in general...how comfortable we get...trekking along... no longer looking closely at what is going on ... not really always seeing obstacles. In all honestly, I mean, heck, I jogged right over that snake... lept right over it... stopped in my tracks because something in my brain clicked...obstacle... I jumped it and then looked back but the damage was already passed... I could of been bit...I could of stepped on it and that would of really kinda freaked me out. I noticed it but I could of just as easily kept going and never known how I crossed over a snake...
What else am I not noticing in my life? I do know I recently lost a friend. I don't know how or even why. I saw her in the store and bounded up to her like Tigger and got the cold shoulder... called, emailed, ...no reply...no response... we had been very close friends... I thought...for almost 18 years.... how did I lose a friend like that? What did I do or not do so horrible to not even be told that hey I messed up... how did I get so busy in life that I didn't notice or pay attention?
I think that happens in marriages too.... couples get so familiar...so comfortable that they can sometimes no longer notice the snake in the grass. It can happen to parents, friends, people ...life... gotta pay attention to the details no matter how familiar we get because out of nowhere a snake can cross your path.

On a another note... This is one of my Texas ant hills. I have several parked right next to my path... I don't understand why it has to be right next to the path...if my foot goes even an inch off the beaten path it will wreck their well built home.


Okay, off to bed... I'm tired!