Heart Strikes

Heart Strikes
by Rev. Diannia Baty
I got up all bleary eyed yesterday a little earlier than usual. I was preparing snacks and gathering things to go on a road trip into the mountains. Camera, coffee, cd's of my favorite music and Hector (my dog) were already in the car waiting patiently for me and the keys to our adventure. Grabbing my purse I locked the door and off we went.



North was the destination of the day...just North! The day always presents itself to me that way it is supposed to be.



I was filled with gratitude and I was joyous. I was also full of what my mother used to call, Piss and Vinegar. If you are Southern you know this means feisty and feeling good. As I drove I visually drank in at all the beauty around me. I felt my heart swell with so much peace and there it was, this funny little thumping in my chest of pleasure and a rush of feel good. I call it a heart strike. There were many times yesterday I felt the heart strikes. We stopped at the music center on the Blue Ridge Parkway and walked right into a blue grass jam. I grabbed Hector and then I saw the Park Ranger and I asked him if I could bring Hector in if I held him. He said jokingly, "what dog,? I don't see a dog." Hector was impressed with the music and wagged his tail the whole time he was in there. As I listened to them play, Amazing Grace...I got my first heart strike.

All along the way were pumpkins and more pumpkins. Little produce stands with lots of apples and jars of honey seemed to pop up every five miles along the way. The weather was spectacular and windy. All the falls colors were in full display.

Hours of this dizzying fall show...

found me following the road until somewhere in Virginia I turned around. Clouds were my road partners and filled the sky with white fluffy glory against a vastness so blue it felt as if I were swimming in it. The wind buffeted me and my car. Whenever a scene caught my eye be it a bush with red berries or an old house I stopped to take pictures and investigate. The wind felt powerfully soothing to me. The mountains had their own chorus of sounds to entertain me and cause my ears to pick out all the music that nature makes. Another vista...another heart strike. Another vivid tree of gold and another heart strike followed. Another bite of a homemade oatmeal cookie...another heart strike. Gratitude is what gives me this rush of love and peace. I was in perfect harmony with the universe yesterday and perfect alignment with God. I felt so free and light. Today I am going to put myself in that same frame of being so I can get a lot of heart strikes again. What about you?