For the beauty of the earth

Although it was a sometime rainy trip up to DeWitt, NY it was, in part, sunny.

I took the 'scenic route', traveling west and north on Route 17 in New York up and through the Catskill mountains.

Being from the tri-state area, when I hear the word "Catskills" my association is immediately to names such as Buddy Hackett, Henny Youngman, Norm Crosby. There was a heyday - 'immortalized' (if you will) - in the movie Dirty Dancing of family resorts which provided a getaway from the city.

Driving this route last Saturday what took my breath away was the greenery, the rolling (and sometimes steep) hills, the rock formations, the creeks. Yes, there were billboards bearing the names of those famous resorts, but they did not intrude into the beauty that Gods hand had instilled there. In a month or so, the trees on this same low mountain range will be ablaze in colors that will range from yellow to scarlet with the ever present evergreens providing contrast.

If nothing else, my new found retirement is giving me opportunities to be less focused on the destination and more attentive to the journey. My heart feels the wonder I have not felt for such a long time and my spirit is aware of the fragility of the balance of nature that we tax more often (as a nation) than we should.

Never being a gardener (I'm great dealing with weeds, but have a naturally gangreen thumb) I am beginning to see the attraction... the cycle, the passing beauty, the seasons, a true sense of the present.

If you have not taken the time to take in a slice of the outdoors lately, please do. God's living creativity is revitalizing to the depth of the soul!

Pentecost 19 (BCP): And what is it worth to you?

Teachers and Preachers - feel free to use this material with a simple attribution. No further permission is required.

Imagine, if you will:

Being a twin separated at birth. Living a good life in a good family, but having the unshakable feeling that you're missing something....

Hearing a song on the radio that recalled your Dad you go into your sock drawer and find it missing....

After a family reunion you come home with fond memories of your Grandmother running through your head. Opening the jewelry box, you find her teeny, tiny worn wedding band missing....

In each of these scenarios, did you feel a sense of LOSS?

Now imagine the twin serendipitously running into or being reunited with their twin?
Finding the worn - but still very sharp - pocket knife?
Finding the wedding ring, worn down to a tiny thread on one side?

It is not that we are focused on the "retail value" (if one could be placed) on the missing person or object - we miss it because it has become and indeed is a part of the fabric of who we are.

How much more does God - and all of heaven - rejoice when we- a part of the very family and essence of God - having lost our way in life turn to the Divine Source of All Life,Love, Good, Knowing and Forgiving to rekindle our relationship? THAT is hard to imagine because we strain to wrap our minds around its enormity.

What have you lost.... in your life, your family, your parish, your community, your nation, your world .... that you will do an 'about face' to find and reclaim it?

Ours is the fist step and our path will be paved with God's grace. Amen and Amen.

Copyright © 2007 K.L.Joanna Depue and DJ on http://www.geraniumfarm.org