Beautiful Landscapes and Deep Reflections

As I sit here this morning reflecting on the week.  I have so many emotions filtering through me.  Our time in Moab was well spent, we were able to explore some of the most beautifully rugged places I have ever seen. It is a different kind of beauty here, the harshness of this land is something to ponder.  It makes a person feel small in comparison to the creator. 

We have since moved on from Moab and I am writing from the beauty of the Gooseneck State Park and later today we will be heading into Monument Valley.  I am, to say the least, very intrigued by the area.  I have been especially enamored with the sunrises.  I am not sure I have ever felt the majesty of a sunrise so powerfully as I have while being at this particular camping spot, although I really don’t think I have seen anything yet.  I look forward to our next destination, not to mention I have always been fascinated with Native American history and we will be right in the heart of Navajo Sacred Land. 

I, am also at the beginning of my Lenten journey, I love this time of year.  It has always been a good time for me to reflect on my life, how I am living my life and how I can live my life better.  I try my best to always walk with Christ, but I am human, and I know that my humanness is broken and my walk with Christ if you were to look at the path is probably a squiggly broken path.  I wish I could say it is a straight line, but I don’t think anyone’s path is.

So, this Lent I am out here in the desert, and I am thinking of Christ being in the desert, I am thinking of the Israelites being in the desert.  How many times have I been in the desert and not known I was there? How many times have I been lost?  How many times have I reached out my hand in the desolate wasteland of my life and been saved?  How many nights will I go to sleep raging against the evil in this world only to wake up to the hope of sun rising again?  I hope that there will be many of these times.  That mind sound strange to some, but I have no other way to live than to live with the that hope.

So I leave you with a Bible verse and also a quote from Chief Seattle that came to mind while I was reflecting this morning underneath the beautiful painting that God created for me to experience.   

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart: yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

“The Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.  Man did not wave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever, he does to the web, he does to himself.” ~ Chief Seattle