Million Mile Trail

The birds have done it again. Amaze me. Inspire me.

The latest is a blurb in the Smithsonian Magazine about the Arctic tern. Weighing in at four ounces, it's a relatively small bird, but it's size belies its courage, fortitude and tenacity. Their home turf is the South Pole but their nesting grounds are Greenland and Iceland. That means these little guys travel an average of 40,000 miles in ten months, making them the annual migration king, or queen, of the animal world. If that's not enough, given their life span of 30 years or more, a single Arctic tern can travel 1.5 million miles in a lifetime, or the equivalent of three round trips to the moon.

That very thought makes me pause. I'm not even going to get into the "why" of it. Or the "how" of it. I'm just going to let these birds leave me breathless. And inspired. And asking ~

Do I live my life out loud with that kind of courage, fortitude and tenacity? An even bigger question ~ do I use my God-given skills and talents to fulfill my purpose on the planet ~ without hesitation, without question, without whining "what's in it for me?" Will I leave a million mile trail at the end of my lifetime? I'm going to have to give that much reflection and get back to you. Don't hold your breath for the answer.

(Blogmeister's note: photo from Wikipedia.org)