It’s spring, and this spring there are sooo many rabbits. When they see me on my morning walk, they scurry off into the underbrush of the blackberries, reminding me of the stories of Br’er Rabbit. Well, the reason rabbits live happily in the impenetrable briars of blackberries is that at ground level, at the base of blackberries, there are virtually no thorns. 

On this particular morning as I ambled along the bird-song enhanced winding road, I looked up from my reverie and saw a rabbit sitting in the middle of the road. He regarded me as if to say, “Finally you notice me!” 

That was unusual enough. 

But then the little rabbit – instead of scurrying into the underbrush – hopped ahead of me on the road. He stopped and looked back, then hopped another twenty feet, staying on the road. I continued following, and he continued to hop twenty feet, then look back at me. Was he about to pull out a pocket watch and mutter, “I’m late, I’m late!”? (Perhaps Lewis Carroll experienced this peculiar rabbit behavior to inspire the the beginning of the story he told his niece, Alice.) 

The rabbit’s hopping and stopping and looking back at me continued for over a hundred feet. At this point he stopped, looked at me pointedly, and then, now far from blackberries, hopped between a pair of stately fir trees. As I came up to the two trees, I saw a definite path between them that led uphill and into tall grass.  

Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, dear reader, by saying I did not follow the rabbit on that little path. I had the entirely pragmatic and human thought that I would be trespassing on a neighbor’s land. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t follow the thought in my mind. As I continued on my walk, I reflected in awe at the behavior of the rabbit. I’ve experienced numerous wonders in nature, and this event has been added to my list of “Small Miracles.” 

What came to me in my reflection is this: I have come through the rabbit hole into this life, into this stunning, beautiful, mysterious and spectacular world. Atoms coalesced to fabricate “me,” and I have the pleasure of my five senses. I daily give gratitude for the myriad birdsongs, I revere the majestic fir and magnolia trees, I drink in the green all around so intense it makes the soul sing. 

I contemplate the fog rising up from the stream bed at the bottom of the forest. I commune with rabbits, deer, raccoon, opossum and the neighbors’ cats, goats and the lone alpaca. I breath air that is fresh from rain. 

But here’s the important factor – I get to know all of that. I have intelligence and emotions that process this sensate data. Gratitude and love well up in me in appreciation of my magnificent world. 

May you be attentive to the mystical rabbits that appear in your life – and may you be filled with gratitude and love.