Nature

For the past three days the sun has taken a hiatus from the Last Frontier. Continual, confining drizzles have taken up residence, raising creeks and dampening spirits. As an ole retired dude, I’ve a favorite dampening antidote . . . curling up with a book until the sun returns from vacation. Turning pages by the fire . . . it’s 49 degrees here, with fresh ‘termination dust’ on the mountain summits . . . this sobering quote by an unknown author rose from the page:

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We’ve added years to our lives, but not life to our years.

We’ve cleaned up the air but polluted our soul.

We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We plan more but accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It’s a time when there’s much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom.

Penned nearly two decades ago, these words poignantly describe today’s hectic, chaotic, divided world. Regretfully, we’ve come a long way the wrong way.

Whoa Freddy !!! . . . time to get out of the drizzle and ponder more positive musings.

Of all the countless blessings living in the Greatland offers, two of my favorites are the Solitude and Silence this rugged, vast stretch of wilderness provides. ‘S’ & ‘S’ aren’t luxuries, they’re mental health essentials!

Often, when wandering through His mountain cathedrals, an old hymn written in 1889 drifts into my thoughts:

This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas–
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

Hey . . . guess what? . . . he rain is still coming down outside, but the sun has come back out inside😊. The dampening antidote of curling up with a book works!  Time to get up outta’ the Lazy Boy and put another log on the fire.

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!