Hi Kitty - thank you, yes, most of my real “growing-up” happened during Peace Corps. That’s when I discovered that we’re all one family.

Unintentional passion, be it in an animal, a plant or a human being. When any living thing just seems to exist in the most sensual way with complet indifference and unknowing sense of what it is or how it is. The fact that it can make me stop right there and then in the most surprising manner At times it’s a movement or a sound, anything that hits that secret little element, which is our very essence. It’s felt more than actually physically existing.

Some beauty in most of the above posts and I am awed by some of your thoughts but now it is gettting too deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, for me!

Anything in nature is awe inspiring to me, from the grandeur of the Grand Canyon or the mysteries of Yellow Stone, the delicate face of a pansy, the fragrance of a rose or the taste of a fresh peach. A beautiful clear blue sky, a NM sunset sometimes called a watermelon sky. The innocence in a childs face or the markings of a tabby cat, it is all wonderous ! A clear mountain stream, the majesty of an old tree, the energy of a hummingbird !The vastness of a star studded sky !

Great question! Most definitely God inspires awe and mystery in my life, through the myriad complexities and beauties He presents about me, and I experience in people, space, and qualities of life, such as love, courage, and hope. I realize a sense of awe and delight when I see a photo of clouds and birds, for example, or a beautiful garden, of the smile of a precious person, young—or not young. For these gifts, I am grateful. I am grateful perhaos because they do not demand a monetary cost. Thank you for the question, and for listening/reading. JBoylynn

The great outdoors, from the dessert to the forest and everything in between ! A new born baby, a baby animal, how they are formed so perfectly ! The instinct of a mother, the kindness and love people have for each other. These are a few things I am awed by. The mystery of how cruel people can be to each other, the pain and suffering caused by some and why we wage war on others and say it’s for freedom. Another mystery is how the squash bugs find my squash ! LOL Why these things are this way is what makes life interesting and frustrating it’s what makes us grateful for the good and simple things in our lives.

Two things create a sense of awe in me. The surge of love I feel when I look into the faces of my children and the fact that even a person like me, way too full of fear and worry, can be extremely strong and resilient when I need to be. And why? Because these intangibles are more real than any physical thing in the world.

I am daily in awe of nature. We have a water ban in our town and my garden is starting to wilt day by day but walking home yesterday I just had to stop and admire a lovely bunch of petunias , they came out of a very small crack in the cement. No one had sewn them and nurtured them as I did mine yet without water or care they were smiling at me. Oh the wonder of it all. Indulge me with another similar story. We had moved our family to Spain in 1970, things did not work out as well as we had imagined. Art galleries back home went bust and our income was starting to dwindle and we had burned our bridges behind us. I was frightened of the future as I walked over a long bridge in Malaga , no river underneath but a trickle of water trying to run towards inland, garbage thrown on the river bed. I looked at it all and wondered why we had done this move. This was not an inviting sight, suddenly I noticed a tomato plant in the middle of the sandbank and a large tomato hanging from a fragile branch. That was a “ha ha” moment for me. I thought if a tiny plant in this terrible soil could produce a tomato then I sure could pull all my resources together and make this change work. I am more inspired by watching nature than all the motivational speakers in the world. Diana called it grace and so it is.