The canal was bright with the light of late morning. Sunlight caught the reeds, turning them into ribbons of gold, while beneath the surface the underwater plants swayed almost unnoticed.

At first, it seemed there was nothing there.

Then I looked again.

Then, quietly, a mallard drifted into view, perfectly at home among the reeds, asking for nothing except the freedom to be.

How often we expect God to meet us only in dramatic moments. Yet creation reminds us that grace is just as often found in ordinary places: on a canal, in the warmth of daylight, in the quiet life we almost overlooked.

We do not always need to search harder. Sometimes we simply need to look more carefully.

“The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” — Psalm 33:5