My Devotion

My places of worship are the trails along the water,

those that are under a canopy of trees that snake past rivers and lakes

and through overpasses where I can see the sun reflected in the water

while white swans gently swim in pairs.

My devotion comes in the form of sweat, hard breathing and a racing heart

as I push myself to pedal through the pain

and climb the inclines of the mountain trails.

I have ridden with white tail deer that bound into the woods and red cardinals that

swoop across the trail, past trees felled into the lake by beavers and barely missing

chipmunks and squirrels as they bound across the trail.

By the the time I get to my destination I am centered, in flow, and in sync with the

wonders of nature.

And then service is over and I return to the world of pain and suffering.