Here we go again.
It is creeping towards 4 a.m. and I am more awake now than I have been all day (er, confession, since I got up at 10:30 a.m.)
So we did our much anticipated vacation last week. Good things about vacation: no alarm clock. Beautiful weather in the North Carolina Western Mountains for the first few days, it didn't top 80 degrees, which is HEAVEN to me! Lazy days, listening to my daughter and her friend laughing . . . even enjoying the rain (although I was slightly worried about the camera when we got caught in a deluge).
Nature's Cathedral - My True Spiritual Home
Iffy things about vacation . . . NO internet. In theory, this is good, right? No work. However, lots of my 'joy' is on the internet . . . blogging, researching, looking at other artists' work . . . so I felt pretty cut off.
In the end I did lots of reading. Knitting. Quiet time with the husband.
Marks the spot of my journey
On our first day we hiked around the top of Whiteside Mountain. This was glorious. As I walked I began to notice true calmness creeping through my being. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. It startled me when fellow hikers said 'hi" - I was so in my inner world with nature that I was surprised anyone else was there. I found a bird on a limb overhanging a chasm and it was happily trilling . . ."helLO, here, here!" . .. seriously, and the way its' trills echoed and bounced off the rock walls - it was a chorus of heavenly proportions.
I could have stayed there listening to my singing bird friend forever. It felt great to share this with Don and the bird sang for him, too. We were worshipping nature and all that it brings.
As we descended a toursit was smoking and I wanted to scream
"Hey, a-hole, what makes you think you can smoke in my church!!!!?????"
But, I didn't. But that is how I felt. It is confirmed - Nature is where I worship and find sanctuary. It isn't in a particular building . . . all I have to do is open a window, step outside, or from my studio - look out upon the creek and hundreds year old tree . . . I dwell there, in my church . . . daily.
May nature continue to entwine me . . . all the days of my life.
It is creeping towards 4 a.m. and I am more awake now than I have been all day (er, confession, since I got up at 10:30 a.m.)
So we did our much anticipated vacation last week. Good things about vacation: no alarm clock. Beautiful weather in the North Carolina Western Mountains for the first few days, it didn't top 80 degrees, which is HEAVEN to me! Lazy days, listening to my daughter and her friend laughing . . . even enjoying the rain (although I was slightly worried about the camera when we got caught in a deluge).
Nature's Cathedral - My True Spiritual HomeIffy things about vacation . . . NO internet. In theory, this is good, right? No work. However, lots of my 'joy' is on the internet . . . blogging, researching, looking at other artists' work . . . so I felt pretty cut off.
In the end I did lots of reading. Knitting. Quiet time with the husband.
Marks the spot of my journeyOn our first day we hiked around the top of Whiteside Mountain. This was glorious. As I walked I began to notice true calmness creeping through my being. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. It startled me when fellow hikers said 'hi" - I was so in my inner world with nature that I was surprised anyone else was there. I found a bird on a limb overhanging a chasm and it was happily trilling . . ."helLO, here, here!" . .. seriously, and the way its' trills echoed and bounced off the rock walls - it was a chorus of heavenly proportions.
I could have stayed there listening to my singing bird friend forever. It felt great to share this with Don and the bird sang for him, too. We were worshipping nature and all that it brings.
As we descended a toursit was smoking and I wanted to scream
"Hey, a-hole, what makes you think you can smoke in my church!!!!?????"
But, I didn't. But that is how I felt. It is confirmed - Nature is where I worship and find sanctuary. It isn't in a particular building . . . all I have to do is open a window, step outside, or from my studio - look out upon the creek and hundreds year old tree . . . I dwell there, in my church . . . daily.
May nature continue to entwine me . . . all the days of my life.