The Woods

And by "the woods," I mean any place that you can visit and not see anything made by man (ok--besides the road perhaps). The first place that comes to my mind is my grandfather and his siblings' land in a tiny town (if it even qualifies as a town) in Georgia. Every time I visit I wonder why I don't do so more often, and I briefly ponder moving there for a season of life to escape the hassles that seems to be part and parcel of modern day living. And more than a few times during my introspective phases I've thought about going totally Thoreau with a shack in "the bottoms" (that's what we call the land near the creek, "Gin Hole," and arrowhead field) so that I could hear "the poem of creation uninterrupted." I wonder how long that would last.

On my most recent trip, I was able to look out and see God's creation unencumbered by our contraptions and creations, and it felt so awe-inspiring and soothing at the same time. I felt so tiny; it all just seemed so vast-so very much bigger than my bubble and me. So I'm grateful for the majestic beauty that covers our earth and the blessings I've had to witness so much of it.

p.s. I'm thankful that it's not "long distance" to call people anymore, enabling me to pretty much call anyone at any time without worrying about how many cents per minute it will cost. And in that same vein, I'm glad my mom is paying my cell phone bill this year (and it's less than $20/month on this family plan!) as my birthday gift--now that's a gift that keeps on giving.