Falls

Every Spring for the past five or six years we have gone to Yosemite. It has become a cathedral of sorts for us. Carolyn and I experience the joy of the Creator there. There is something mystical about the constantly changing natural beauty that sits in stark contrast to eons of finality. It is there that we see the hand of God--who created--but continues to create, evolve, and change the physical world and all who inhabit it.

Yosemite is famous for its glorious waterfalls. Yosemite Falls (pictured to the left) cascades from thousands of feet above the valley, filling it with a breathy wash of rythmic white noise. From afar it is beautiful, but up close...it is powerful, dangerous and majestic. My Father-in-law and I spent half a day hiking up to the falls. We made it to the top of the lower falls and took this shot. In retrospect, the feelings I had that day echo my feeling today.

Life is ever-changing. There are new challenes, new ideas, new opportunities all the time. But most of us want to remain steady. We want to be stable, predictable, safe. We spend a lot of time and energy creating ways (excuses) to avoid new experiences. But safety is a fallacy. We all face the same fate. If we try to remain safe, we will slowly wash away like the solid rock of Yosemite.

As grand and imposing as Half Dome is, the river washed the other half away. That is because the water is ever-changing, alway moving, and forcing change upon the stagnant. Much of Yosemite was formed by enormous glaciers--frozen rivers that moved mountains. Today, the waters continue to transform the place.

I recieved an email from a dear friend today. She attached this quote:

Within each of us there is a herd of wild horses all wanting to run loose. -Wallace Hamilton

That is truth. And truth is big, wherever you find it. So I think it is time that we were less like rocks and more like water, or at least, wild horses.