For anyone who doesn’t already know, I’m a huge nature buff. Trees, lakes, oceans, mountains, I dig it all.
This weekend Ash and I spent most of our time with the dogs at Edwin Warner Park and took advantage of the nice weather, grabbing some long-needed fresh air. We did a lot of hiking through the trails, and running through the creeks throwing Frisbees–it was great! Despite all the commotion, though, it was good to immerse myself in a bit of creation again (albeit city-encompassed, protected, marked-trailed, occasionally-paved-roaded creation). 
I have to say, though, that the feeling of the Appalachians are much different from the Colorado country I’m from.
Over in the Rockies, the air is crisp–the landscape is fierce and juvenile, as if it takes its hikes and adventures with you and discovers more about the world as you discover it yourself. The atmosphere is open, tough, powerful. When standing on the top of Pike’s Peak, it’s not uncommon to consider at that moment the immensity and dominion of God.
Here, along the Appalachian trails, however, the Earth feels ancient. Everything about the place is old and gentle and intimate–quite the opposite of everything I had experienced at home. The air has that musky quality to it that immediately presents to me an arbitrary picture of a grandparent’s home with floral couches, knitting needles, wood paneling, and grandfather clocks. It’s in the way the rocks lay, the way the trees grow and the rivers color their waters. To be honest, it made me very uncomfortable this past weekend.
I think it’s because in Colorado (or similar places) I could stand proud and look out upon a great view of the world and say, “This is what God is like.” As if I had it figured out. The truth is, I was “partly in the right and wholly in the wrong.” God is probably fierce and powerful like the Rockies, but He’s probably not only that. He’s also gentle, intimate, and of course, very very old (if age can indeed be a characteristic applied to God). And he’s most definitely a lot of other things, too, which I’m sure are displayed elsewhere in His Creation.
All said and done, I definitely need to take some trips. Anyone up for the rain forest?
