A flowing river of Elk leapt over a barbed wire fence. Awed by the sight, I pulled my car to the side of the road and rolled down my window to listen and watch. The herd was made up of at least one hundred elk, a multi-generational group, still adorned with thick furry winter coats.

A couple other vehicles pulled over and parked. Motors were turned off. As if entering a sanctuary, we instinctively quieted. We were stopped in our tracks by the beauty of wild elk finding their way through snowy mountain lands.

Once over the fence, one by one, the elk climbed up a hill and regrouped in a meadow. They circled around and around, graceful and at ease, gathering information and reconnecting. Where are we now? Who’s made it so far? Which way will we go next?

A few elk who’d made the leap stayed near the fence. Bright chirping sounds rose up at this crossing place, the voices of those who’d already made it over calling to those still on their way. Elders and guides were holding vigil, watching over, giving instruction, sharing knowledge and perspectives from where they stood now.

The elk herd was an embodied form of harmony and love. Care and connectedness were not blocked by the fenceline. There wasn’t evidence of competition, force or debate.

Elk weave a dynamic balance with family, companionship and community ~ giving attentive care to individuals and the whole collective, nurturing well-being through the generations, facing challenges together, creating enduring relational bonds.

Elk’s majestic beauty and intelligence rippled far beyond the herd, bounding in through my car window and landing in my heart. In thirty minutes in clock time, this encounter with the elk herd left lasting imprints in my inner world. The natural ways of Elk ignited a deep sense of awe and love, a feeling of belonging in this mysterious thing called life in this extraordinary place called earth.

Across the barriers of our metal and rubber-tired vehicles, without dividing lines of politics or religions or languages or ages or races or genders, a human to human to human connection came alive. Elk show us the way of inclusion and care in Relationships, regarding everyone as essential, respecting everybody’s belonging. I felt these gifts in our exuberant waves and drive-by smiles when we human people, like the elk herd, continued on our way.