This summer provided an opportunity for us to visit Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. We consciously connected with all the people grateful this land had been set aside in its pristine beauty by forward thinking public servants and philanthropists so that we could enjoy it as they had. Words cannot express the depth of life and beauty we saw, so we simply call it mystical, beyond measure, sacred; and raise it up in thanksgiving.
All along the roads in Wyoming, the hills were so green, skies pure deep blue, and wildflowers standing tall outstretched to the sunshine, proudly displaying rich colorful variety. Every turn in the road would bring breath-taking vistas of purple, yellow, pink and green. Every creek was full and splashing downward on its own new journey. As we entered the canyons of the Snake River, the mountain sides steepen dramatically and we twisted along this mighty river, all white with glacial silt and full of uprooted trees that could not stand up to its mighty current. Only a few rafters would risk the rapids in this part of the river’s descent.
Closer to the Snake river’s source at Jackson Lake, Wyoming, we beheld the Grand Tetons, majestically watching the eagles soaring over grassy meadows and wide, flat valleys, glistening with much snow and glaciers still melting in late July. On the wide reaches of this slower, meandering, ever changing Snake we enjoyed a mid-day float trip. We couldn’t help but see the presence of the mystical in the grandeur around us. How joyful we felt to be one with the fullness of life , to witness earth responding to warm sunshine, animals and birds with food aplenty, and to know that we as human beings, members of the animal kingdom, but empowered to know and celebrate in feeling and song the giftedness of this earth, sun and universe. We alone could be conscious of what we are all a part of, and give thanks to the divinity in it all.
Once again in the magical beauty of our National Parks, we were deeply aware that everything that we are, touch, and see came from the unconditional love of stars that bestowed the elements and compounds of Earth during hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary preparation to make the unique beauty of the earth and even more uniquely the one-of-a-kind person we are.
All along the roads in Wyoming, the hills were so green, skies pure deep blue, and wildflowers standing tall outstretched to the sunshine, proudly displaying rich colorful variety. Every turn in the road would bring breath-taking vistas of purple, yellow, pink and green. Every creek was full and splashing downward on its own new journey. As we entered the canyons of the Snake River, the mountain sides steepen dramatically and we twisted along this mighty river, all white with glacial silt and full of uprooted trees that could not stand up to its mighty current. Only a few rafters would risk the rapids in this part of the river’s descent.
Closer to the Snake river’s source at Jackson Lake, Wyoming, we beheld the Grand Tetons, majestically watching the eagles soaring over grassy meadows and wide, flat valleys, glistening with much snow and glaciers still melting in late July. On the wide reaches of this slower, meandering, ever changing Snake we enjoyed a mid-day float trip. We couldn’t help but see the presence of the mystical in the grandeur around us. How joyful we felt to be one with the fullness of life , to witness earth responding to warm sunshine, animals and birds with food aplenty, and to know that we as human beings, members of the animal kingdom, but empowered to know and celebrate in feeling and song the giftedness of this earth, sun and universe. We alone could be conscious of what we are all a part of, and give thanks to the divinity in it all.
Once again in the magical beauty of our National Parks, we were deeply aware that everything that we are, touch, and see came from the unconditional love of stars that bestowed the elements and compounds of Earth during hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary preparation to make the unique beauty of the earth and even more uniquely the one-of-a-kind person we are.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your wonderful description of the natural beauty you experienced in Wyoming. I find that I am closest to God when in the midst of profound natural beauty that my mind stumbles to find words adequate to assign to such grandure.
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