The Hundred Acre Park

There is a hundred acre park near the place I live, where I love to walk. It is hallowed ground. I know it is hallowed because God speaks to me there; plays on my heartstrings with his presence, renews my mind with grand views of magnificent desert canyons; fires my brain to remember lessons long forgot; knowledge embedded in my DNA; senses long dormant. There my logic becomes untangled; hunches long denied are acknowledged, and I become ME again, the ME I am created to be.

I become balanced, centered again in the me that would rather be well than right. The me that has learned to live one day at a time in courage and trust, rather than the me that runs around unsuccessfully trying to control others in order to order my future.

I have walked many places. God is not absent from any of them. A walk is always restorative. But this, this is a place I keenly sense his presence. I like to think of the early valley farmers and ranchers – over 100 years ago, who first settled this land and farmed and later deeded, gave, or sold the land to the city.

What must they have done to this land to make it undulate so with vibes of the sacred? I picture them standing in a field, faces uplifted toward the sun, crying out, “God, thank you for this land! We hallow and dedicate this field-forever as a blessing to others-that they might feel you presence here and seek your wisdom and health through enjoyment of this great outdoors!Author, pic by Kvon

The Best For My Loved Ones

My youngest and MeWhat one wants, more than anything else in the world, is to protect one’s loved ones-particularly one’s children; to see that no harm comes to them, that no evil comes near them. One longs and agonizes to keep them from physical injury; to manage the equilibrium of their emotions so they never fell hurt or pain from failed relationships or angry people.

I want to give my children the experience of all the good I have encountered in life AND give them good things instead of the disappointments. Just what could be the danger in that? Consider this: Beyond becoming a hover mother, I can easily degenerate into a control freak; managing and manipulating all the events and circumstances that touch my loved ones.

How much better would it be to provide the tools, information, and encouragement and be available as a reference rather than a manager?

May I handle the joys and disappointments in my life with such truth and aplomb that those nearest me may be EN couraged – Given courage-to face their triumphs and trials with wisdom and strength!

P. S. The picture? that’s my youngest – PS – and Me

Flat Fourteeners

Hike Flat Fourteeners – I love it! I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the landscape, I love to walk. But….UP? Now that’s not a good thing for me. There was a time I thought I would never have the stamina to make it to the top of a Colorado fourteener even though I camped at the base of many; and later, a time when I successfully climbed Gray’s Peak (14,270). Still later I ascended Mount Bierstadt (14,060) and lived to write about it for a Mountain Writer’s publication – even though I could hardly walk and it hurt to stoop or lift for months afterward. Now I have embarked on Colorado Flat Fourteeners; a program in which I don a pedometer and walk the total number of paces it would take to hike all the Colorado peaks over 14,000 feet. The rest of the Sweet Adelines and I are doing this together. What fun! When I have finished all 53 I get a T-shirt! This week we did Pike’s Peak together (14,110 – now flat) – and I did an additional smaller peak. By the end of next summer I should have all of them in the bag.