Free diamonds

It is so much pleasanter, and wholesomer to be warmed by the sun while you can be, than by artificial fire. I thus warmed myself by the still glowing embers which the summer, like a departed hunter, had left. _Thoreau

Henry had been down by the pond, contemplating about the onslaught of winter while admiring the reflection of the late afternoon sun glimmering on the water's edge. And, over 160 years ago, he wrote these thoughts down on paper without a clue in the world I would be reading them in 2008 with tears in my eyes.

What's with the tears you say?

It touched my heart to vision a man sitting by the side of a pond falling in love with what God had made. I can see that water's edge and the invisioned embers left by the hunter. I'm not sure why this touches me so. Maybe it's like a mother's face, when she sees her newly born child for the first time. It could be too, the importance, the desperate need in these times, to see another person embrace and appreciate life, appreciate God and what's more, to learn from it and become a more gentle, humble and kinder human being for it.

Henry lived in a tiny house. He mostly ate beans and fish, or whatever he could scrounge up. He owned very little so his life and his mind were uncluttered.

Sometimes we can forget the most valuable diamonds in the entire world are the ones found on the water. And, if you are lucky enough to know this, you won't ever have to worry about a thief or some rust destroying this treasure.

Peace.