View From Little Manatee

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)

I was going to post this photograph over the weekend for photo hunt’s theme of view. This is one of my favorite views. No, not necessarily the area itself although I love Little Manatee State Park. No, my favorite view is anything framed between those two pairs of ears. On Saturday, my friend, Andrea, convinced me to go riding. I don’t need much convincing normally, but had a lot on my plate this weekend and really should have stayed home and cleaned house. Funny, it seems like no dilemma now, but honestly, I really did consider staying home to clean house! We left early and because the weather was so nice, drier and cooler than it has been in a long time, we stayed all day. We took our lunch and plenty of water and rode every trail, backtracking on a few. I love seeing how the park changes with the seasons. Fall is in full swing at Little Manatee. The Florida hollies were full of bright red berries. The saw palmettos have grown back after the controlled burn this summer. They are lush with purple fruit. Wildflowers including sunny yellow daisies and lavender pickerel lined the path. When we rounded one corner, two deer stood silently in front of us. They did not move, just watched us as we halted. Then, they went back to eating and slowly crossed within a hundred yards of us. There were huge swallowtail butterflies every where. Grasshoppers clicked and buzzed on the ground around us. We saw some large woodpeckers and lots of egrets and herons. We’ve ridden a lot at Little Manatee. It is practically in our neighborhood and with the gas crunch, it makes sense we would stay close to home. We have been there so much, that I do not need to give Trucker directions. He just goes along making all the right turns at all the right places. We pretty much go the same route each time and I don’t know how he remembers, but I think he could walk it with his eyes closed. Maybe he reads the signs. This trip, I tried to mix things up, telling him to go left when we would usually go right and right when we might have gone left. He is an agreeable guy, so didn’t fuss with me even though he might have thought I was taking the hard way around. Variety is the spice of life, don’t you know. Just a different perspective helped make the park new and exciting. I love horseback riding and am so blessed to have a horse that I can enjoy without fighting him to mind and behave. He does whatever I ask without hesitation. God wants the same from me. He will show me the path of life and if I listen and follow Him, the journey will be enjoyable. Not necessarily because of my circumstances or the path itself, but, because He walks beside me and the joy is in His presence.