Lately, and including today, I’ve been fascinated watching a young (and surprisingly small) great blue heron fishing at the lake where I run, and I’ve particularly enjoyed the spectacle – and thought – of this little baby’s apparently increasing independence. Having observed one of who I presume are this newcomer’s parents fish earlier in the morning, it was sweet to see the same intent (and all-business) approach scaled down by the remarkably patient youngster with no mentor in sight. They say it’s better to teach a man to fish, and, as with people, birds can express love by encouraging mastery of the skill.

While it’s by no means a perfect metaphor, this illustration has been a very helpful reminder for me of how it is that God supplies our needs – not necessarily by allowing us to become dependent on any one particular expression of supply, of companionship, of home, or of community but lovingly alerting us to the spiritual Source of all of these things. No wonder there seem to be such hard lessons to be learned when we try to short-change ourselves by settling for any particular collapse of the wave function, one may say, when we need to get a better sense of the ever-availability of the God who is the Creator of everyone and everything.

Still, does the need for such learning necessarily mean one should not gratefully recognize and identify specific manifestations of good that appear in our lives, often right at the moment when they feel most needed?, I’ve wondered recently. Is it really even a good idea to endorse political candidates who, as human beings and practically speaking, are perhaps going to falter and make mistakes and disappoint one or many people in one way or another over time? At the moment, at least, I do think such endorsements can still be worth making so long as one does so with an open mind.

Today, when working out, I thought it might be fun to listen to a playlist I’ve not listened to often in quite a number of years and was surprised to note how poignant were the feelings of frustration, confusion, and even despair that seemed to accompany being reminded of the years between my departure from CNN and the beginning of the women’s movement in corporate journalism. While there did appear to be so much progress to celebrate on a national level at the time, with a president of mixed descent in office and apparent advances for historically marginalized groups in general, in a way it all felt shallow and meaningless after watching how easily so much of my life and career had seemed to be dismantled and even erased in one of the largest and arguably most powerful media corporations in the world.

This past weekend, I had a thought-provoking experience while trail running when I happened across an acoustic guitar player/singer and his sister who kindly asked me what song I would most enjoy hearing and, when asked to perform an original song, obliged. While I adored the qualities expressed by this talented performer as he shared the piece “Nowhere Girl” (in a private forest concert!), after carrying on with my excursion, I took pause at the title, recalling what it means to feel almost like one’s life and career have been erased, and knowing that, as important as it is to be open to the creative and unexpected ways in which God may meet one’s needs at a given moment, this should be expected to be accomplished in concrete ways. As beautiful as the song was, it was a reminder I never want to feel like a nowhere girl again. But, in pondering how this can be avoided, I think the best answer may be … carefully.

There has been so much debate in recent months (and even years) over which of two choices offer the U.S. the most practical pathway forward toward greater justice, unity, and prosperity in the future. And, while both sides have presented a vision for their respective plans, it still feels to me each misses the mark in charting a course that both refuses to ignore present conditions and yet remains open to possibilities those conditions do not, in and of themselves, imply. While it’s important not to run away from the past, in other words, we still can’t spend an inordinate amount of time bemoaning it, nor can we lose ourselves in marketer-designed daydreams. I still do not believe all the country’s answers lay in any one particular political candidate, but, given this seeming conundrum, I did appreciate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent Nixon Library talk on realpolitik, encouraging listeners open to considering a rare third-party presidential candidate to simultaneously pay attention to conditions on the ground, so to speak, while remaining open to ways forward that may have previously been obscured so that when helpful and practical alternatives to the status quo become available, as a people, we can seize them.

This past weekend another beautiful illustration brought home the point in a small way, anyway. After a lot of thought-taking about summer plans, I had a beautiful opportunity to go on a deeply inspiring canoe trip reminiscent of many I’ve enjoyed over the years and loved how, without any sort of major travel or planning required as has been in the past, I was able to bask in the unique and immersive perspective on the water only this kind of activity offers and in a location where before I’d hardly considered doing so.

I’m increasingly grateful, anyway, for opportunities to glimpse what’s possible as I better balance (and re-balance) a willingness to apply practical lessons already learned right where I am while remaining expectant of opportunities not yet visible: fruition.