God Kisses

On Sunday, she walked out the back door with the intention of allowing the scenery around her to inspire some writing. But the air was cool for sitting, so she laid her journal and pen on the table and walked into sunlight, scanning the view around her. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains touched the eastern sky. To the west, the San Luis Valley spread out wide and flat until it reached the San Juan range some hundred-fifty miles away. She took a deep breath of pine-scented air and began to explore the property where she was staying during her retreat.

Watching her footing amidst the stones and cactus, she caught sight of a ginormous moth grasping the base of low dry grasses. It was colored various shades of brown, with a fake blue eye on the upper corners of each forewing. Its antennae were like delicate feathers.

  

The woman crouched down to admire the moth’s size and design. She compared her index finger to the wingspan and saw that the creature was every bit as wide as her finger was long. She would later learn that this was a Glover’s Silkmoth, a member of North America’s family of giant silk moths.

She had somewhere to go, but before leaving she lightly touched the insect, only motivating it to move its wing slightly, as though lifted by a subtle breeze. She sensed the moth must be dying and would be dead by the time she returned. That afternoon, it was gone.

Four days later, on a Thursday morning, as she moved some papers off the counter, her attention was drawn outside the window to something like a leaf floating down. She walked over to the glass and saw on the ground the forewing of a Glover’s Silkmoth.

  

   

She immediately felt an even deeper connection between the moth and herself. Their interactions were a gift. A God kiss, she called it. She felt blessed. And she was.

But, looking up at the brilliant green of the aspen on the side of nearby peaks, and breathing in the freshness of the pine-scented air, she realized that God kisses too numerous to count show themselves every moment. Ah! There went one! Did you notice?

  

Carol Barrow

June, 2018