My Favorite Spot to Spend My Time

 by Anah Miera

🥉 BRONZE STAR WINNER 🥉

If I lived on a ranch in the eighteen hundreds, I would have a special spot that me and my horse would ride to every week. It would be in a lush pine forest and have a beautiful stream running through it. The air would be filled with the sharp, pleasant smell of pine. The trees would be dense, but not enough to block the sunrise.

On days when it would be crisp and cool, I would go early in the morning and bring a picnic breakfast. From my spot I would view the distant mountains, their tall peaks capped with snow. I would listen to the songbirds singing to the morning and see the sun, just peeking up from behind the mountains, bathing everything in golden rays.

The sky would become alive with colors - beautiful hues of reds, oranges, pinks and purples bathing the world. In the trees, there would be nests, with mothers-to-be fussing over loose twigs and feathers.

As the forest awakened, I would sit down in the shade of a tree to read my Bible. I would also bring nuts in my saddle bags to feed the squirrels that would run around my special spot. I would tame them so that they would keep me and my horse company.

On the stream bank, I would find scuttling crabs and slippery salamanders - both seeming to play hide-and-seek amidst the shadows and rocks underwater. The stream would be bursting with fishes. I would sometimes bring a fishing rod, and catch strings of fish for dinner. If I needed bait, I would catch the shimmering minnows by cupping them in my hand and hook them onto my line.

Then the sun would rise higher and begin to warm the world. Clouds would dance daintily across the sky, bringing short bouts of shade. I would stay and wade in the cool stream, with shadows from the trees spreading over everything, as if they were giants laying over a miniature world. I would gather small, cool rocks, washed smooth by the flowing water.

I would also climb one of the tall trees and sit and look at all of nature below me. Then I would climb down and sit on a big, smooth rock with my feet in the water to eat my breakfast. Minnows would nibble at my toes, and crabs would watch them suspiciously.

Then I would lay back on the grassy bank of the creek and look up at all God’s glorious creation. The mountains, the trees, the birds, the sky- everything as far as the eye can see. I would breathe in the morning air and thank our Heavenly Father for blessing us with His awesome and glorious creation!