“Look! A Baltimore Oriole!” My mom cries out summoning me over to the window. I dash over and see a glimpse of orange and black catch a ray of sun. The colors could be seen glowing as part of the green backdrop of the peach tree that was planted by other birds. Probably the ones that picked at our compost pile a few years back. Stopped for a moment to be present, I revel in the dynamism of time that in its multi-dimensionality shimmers and dances while I listen to the cadence of my heart in my ear that is on the same wavelength as the blossoms and leaves alive in the air.

This is the creation of God fully alive, and yet what really spins is the movement that the constant thrum of change invokes. It is change that is never stopped, not even during the death and continuation of renewal that is also taking place. Renewal that is the birth that forms after death. How does this cycle continue without it? It is the beginning and ending of each moment. The one where the monarch butterflies and praying mantises pollinate and integrate the whole and the individual pieces of the ecosystems. This interconnected planet spins and we are alive in it. How wonderful!

Fred Dean is a student in the public health undergraduate program at the SUNY College at Brockport. He attends Ogden Baptist Church of the American Baptist Churches USA. When he is not studying, he likes to explore the natural world on walks and bike rides.