Mountain Lore

     These photos are from a recent trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.  The dunes are some of the largest natural dunes in the US, created by unique forces working in this area of the Rio Grande.  The mountains are part of the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") range within the North American Rocky Mountains. (Spanish explorers applied the name centuries ago because reddish light reflecting off snow caps suggested this.)  This area is collectively referred to as The San Luis Valley.

    Included is some Biblical poetry about mountains.  

     This is a reminder of how God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as sands along the seashore (Genesis 22:17 & 26:4).

I will lift up my eyes unto the hills

From whence comes my help.  (Psalm 121:1)

Great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised

In the city of our God,

The mountain of His holiness. (Ps. 48:1)

Who may ascend upon the Mount of Yahweh?

And who may stand in the place of His holiness? (Psalm 24:3)

In [Yahweh's] Hand are the depths of the earth,

And the heights of the hills are His.  (Ps. 95:4) [original translations] 

     The person who stand in the place of Yahweh's holiness is the person whose sin has been forgiven by Jesus. We see this spelled out in other places in the Bible.

     Mountains seem almost eternal and unmovable.  Yet God can move them.  Jesus spoke of having "the faith to move mountains."  (Matthew 17:20) 

     A hill is also a place which can be seen from far away on the plain.  From atop a mountain, things can be seen for miles around. Many Biblical events took place on hills or mountains.  The 10 Commandments were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Part of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness occurred on a mountain. Jesus was 'transfigured' (radiating bright as the Sun) on a mountain.  Jesus prayed with His disciples the night of His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.  Jesus was crucified on the hill at Golgatha.  Jesus ascended into heaven from a mountain near Bethany, traditionally the Mount of Olives. 

To a Beautiful Child*

 

...thy book

Is cliff, and wood, and foaming waterfall;

Thy playmates-- the wild sheep and birds that call

Hoarse to the storm; -- thy sport is with the storm

To wrestle; -- and thy piety to stand

Musing on things create, and their Creator's hand.

 --Manley Hopkins (father of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.), c. 1875

Valentine's Day is for more than "couples' love."  In fact, the legends of the original Saints Valentine (there were up to three men possibly) were about sacrificial, spiritual love. This is a good time to reflect on other types of love.

Lakes & Rivers

We took a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona this fall.  Yes, this, too is Arizona.  (It's not all desert and the large, branching saguaro cacti.  BTW, AZ is the only state in the US where those cacti grow.)  Here are some photos of Big Lake in the White Mountains (near Greer) and the Little Colorado River near Springerville.   

There are other blog postings, as noted, with some of the autumnal plant life from this trip.

There is related Biblical poetry woven throughout the various postings.

Enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans reading this. Blessed fall season to the rest of my Northern Hemisphere friends reading this!

[Yahweh says]:

"I will open rivers on the bare heights

And springs within the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water

And dry lands springs of water."  Isaiah 41:18

Part "deux"

See, there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God, the dwelling places of the Most High.  Psalm 46:4

Then [the angel] showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb... On each side of the river was the Tree of Life... No longer will there be any curse... they [the people of God] will see His Face...  from Revelation chapter 22, a vision of heaven.

 

Trees in Autumn

 As mentioned in other postings from this date, we recently took a trip to the White Mountains, in the far eastern part of Arizona, near New Mexico.  A different look for AZ, for those of you not familiar with the state, right?  Here is some fall foliage on the trees, some with evergreen mixed in. The colorful trees are quaking aspens, so named because their leaves shimmer at the slightest gust of breeze. They are a poplar, related to cottonwoods and Eurasian poplars.  Regarding evergreens, the elevation was high enough in spots to see Douglas-fir and true fir trees. I think there was some spruce around, but we didn't get photographs.

One of the travel loops took us to through National Forest and on to Big Lake, near Greer.  (see the other postings of this date) 

There is related Biblical poetry woven throughout.  Enjoy your fall, assuming you're in the Northern Hemisphere.  If not, enjoy your spring!  😉

In a high meadow, near some mountain tops in the White Mountains.  If you look closely, you see fire damage, which allowed aspens to grow.  Fire, though destructive and scary, is also "purifying."  It clears out the brush, which allows aspens to grow.  Aspens will not grow in the shade and requires these periodic clear-outs.  Then the aspens' root system anchors things so that erosion in minimized and other plant life can return.  

 

How long, O Yahweh? 

Will You hide Yourself forever?

How long will Your wrath burn like fire?  Psalm 89:46

 

[After the Flood, Yahweh said to Noah]:

"Through all the days of the earth,

Seedtime and Harvest,

Cold and Heat,

Summer and Winter,

Day and night

Will not 'take a sabbatical.' "  Genesis 8:22

Notice the rare red foliage on these aspens, near Big Lake, as above, on the way into the lake.  Typically, the foliage only turns a bright, golden yellow.  Some soils in isolated micro-environments allow the leaves to turn somewhat reddish.

[Yahweh says]:

"[The unfaithful] do not say in their heart:

'Let  us fear Yahweh our God,

Who gives rain in its season,

Both the autumn rain and the spring rain,

Who keeps for us 

The weeks appointed for harvest.' "  Jeremiah 5:24

 

  Be patient, then, brothers [and sisters], until the Lord's coming.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early [spring] and the late [autumnal] rains.  James 5:7 

 

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He  has also put eternity into [humanity's] heart, yet so that [a person] cannot figure out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

O God, Our Help in Ages Past*

 

1. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Our shelter from the stormy blast,
   And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
   Thy saints have dwelt secure;
   Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
   And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
   Or earth received her frame,
   From everlasting Thou art God,
   To endless years the same.
4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
   “Return, ye sons of men”:
   All nations rose from earth at first,
   And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
   Are like an evening gone;
   Short as the watch that ends the night
   Before the rising sun.
6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
   With all their lives and cares,
   Are carried downwards by the flood,
   And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
   Bears all its sons away;
   They fly, forgotten, as a dream
   Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
   Pleased with the morning light;
   The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
   Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
   And our eternal home.  --Isaac Watts, 1708 (pub. 1719)

*A hymnodic version of Psalm 90.  (This Psalm and hymn are often used in liturgical churches on New Years' Eve, due to the discussion of "time.")

Volunteering

 

During this COVID time, we are limiting our travelling and exposure. We did take some time to do some socially distanced, responsible  volunteer painting.  (My husband held the ladder while I got up into the pinnacle!)

Perspectives

"Rain" means something other
If you're not from Arizona:
"Into every life..."*
(Twist you here the knife)
"A little rain must fall..."*
(Unmitigated gall).

At last God sent us rain
To ease this climate's pain
Elsewhere they have floods--

Nature's twisted torsades.**

I pray You come again,
Far moreso than the rain;
I want to see Your Face:
Lord, Jesus, come with haste.

---c.m.b.  (c), 2020

(a summer of record breaking 110+ days in Phoenix; no rain; high ozone)

*A paraphrase from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Rainy Day"  (see link below)

**Torsades:  an irregular heart rhythm

"The Rainy Day", by Longfellow

In May

The time that hints the coming leaf, 
 When buds are dropping chaff and scale,  
And, wafted from the greening vale,
Are pungent odors, keen as grief.

Now shad-bush wears a robe of white,  
And orchards hint a leafy screen; 
 While willows drop their veils of green
Above the limpid waters bright.

New songsters come with every morn, 
 And whippoorwill is overdue, 
 While spice bush gold is coined anew
Before her tardy leaves are born.

The cowslip now with radiant face  
Makes mimic sunshine in the shade, 
 Anemone is not afraid,
Although she trembles in her place.

Now adder's-tongue new gilds the mould*,
The ferns unroll their woolly coils,  
And honey-bee begins her toils
Where maple trees their fringe unfold.

The goldfinch dons his summer coat,  
The wild bee drones her mellow bass, 
 And butterflies of hardy race
In genial sunshine bask and float.

The Artist now is sketching in 
 The outlines of his broad design  
So soon to deepen line on line,
Till June and summer days begin.

Now Shadow soon will pitch her tent
Beneath the trees in grove and field,
And all the wounds of life be healed,
By orchard bloom and lilac scent.

--John Burroughs, 1837-1921

*"Mold" in British English.  Flowers are now adorning the ground, where before moldy leaf remnants lay

A Grand Canyon

A spot where you can drive down to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.  Not quite as "splendid" as in the National Park, but still beautiful.

At the confluence of Diamond Creek & the Colorado River, May 2019. 

October in Northern Arizona

North Rim Grand Canyon

[July 2017 vacation]

Some things are poetry without words!

Angel's Window, on of the few places to see the Colorado River from the North Rim.  

(Look closely through the window on the close-up.)

There is also the escaped buffalo herd from a failed cattle-buffalo crossing experiment over 100 years ago.  (They have some cattle DNA.)

October 2010 South Rim Visit

"In His hand are the depths of the earth;

The peaks of the mountains are His also." (Psalm 95:4)

"...He who was seated on the throne said,

'See, I am making all things new...

  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.'

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,

neither shall there be mourning,

nor crying, nor pain anymore,

for the former things have passed away.”

(Revelation 21:5,6b,4)