"Who's going to read?" I asked. "I'll read," Michal said. She opened our new book, The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh, and read for awhile from a chapter called "Resting."
I watched Michal as she read: "The Buddha said, 'My practice is the practice of non-practice.' That means a lot. Give up all struggle. Allow yourself to be, to rest."
Michal looked up then. "The pileated," she said. I couldn't believe it but followed her gaze to the oak tree very near. There it was. We hadn't even left the front porch! Can this be what it's like to rest? A red crest flashed as the slender, eerie pileated turned in the air and flew away.