because

It has been over three years now since I retired but at the time of this writing, it had been somewhat over two months since the grand day and what I had expected to happen had not - until that day. But even that didn't come from the direction that I had thought it would.

Considering the fact that I really enjoyed by job - as much as one could enjoy semi-manual labor - that was the element I thought I would miss. The scenario in my mind showed me driving along the highway one day and upon passing some of my ex-workmates at labor, a wistfulness would beset me to the effect of wishing I was still there working with them. This has not happened.

The fact that this longing had not pounced upon my consciousness was somewhat of a mystery to me. Today the mystery was solved. While driving to complete a minor errand, I passed through some of the territory in which I had helped maintain the outside telephone facilities and a real nostalgia leaped upon my mental and emotional faculties.

I found myself soaking in and pining for more of the scenery of God's creations in the areas through which I had passed everyday. Then I realized that even though I had passed landmarks of brick, stone and concrete in my daily routine of work, the points of interest my mind reveled in was the trees, bushes and flowers.

Now I have some of these natural growths around my house, but the multiplicity and variety of them was my source of enjoyment and therefore the cause of the emptiness. In my mind's eye I can still see certain gnarled or odd growing trees and bushes and I checked these out and off while passing. I even took note of areas where kudzu was determinedly striving to cover over everything in sight and honeysuckle trying to imitate that same growth pattern - at least the climbing part.

Best of all was the flowers. It was as though I subconsciously remembered where the most and best blooms of spring and summer resided. Then as I traveled those routes, my visual senses sat on the very edge of expectation until one of these sites cascaded into view. My eyes would then feast on the glorious blossoms, great or small, storing them all for later perusal. A lot of these I can still call to mind.

These earth bound natural growths were like old friends, except I didn't verbally greet them, at least not too much. I probably need get out a little more to renew old tree acquaintances and see what God has been doing with them. Just the thought of how He sets the natural times and seasons in motion is a source of amazement to me. Why did God do it? Because He knew we would need these things for our emotional, mental and even physical health.