Day Trip

Living within a couple of hours of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, I thought it might be time to commune with nature and witness one of the breathtaking displays of the fall season.  Yes, I’m talking about a bright sun revealing the vibrant red, yellow and orange of millions of leaves.

What I actually saw on my little journey were the colors of washed out pink-salmon Sumac, sandstone reflections of faded yellow Hickory and milk chocolate combined with the beef gravy brown of curled dead oak leaves mixed with various shades of green.

Leaf watching disappointed.

The journey did not.



Driving through this forest, geography dictated altitude differences along the route.  Various locations presented nature in many forms as forest, rivers and rock formations all took their place on the stage of spectacular.  An invisible lighting director set the intended spotlights.

Fog was a major contributor to this focus.  Sometimes, high in the hills, the vapor wrapped itself around trees and brush creating gray-white rivers below.

Sometimes, speeds were reduced to a crawl as the path required driving through this stream of earthly cloud promoting itself as glowing white blinders.

Driving down from one of those hills, this continuously evolving film became heavier.  Off to my left, a morning mix of humidity and temperature blanketed all rocks, roads, trees, water and sky – all things cloaked in milky white.

Except.

There was one evergreen tree that stood alone.  Nothing around this tree was visible. This lightly enshrouded image had no color but spoke of a remembered shape, faded but evidenced with a clearly identifiable outline. 

With the droning of rubber on blacktop, the background noise allowed me to consider how God is always here.  Even if swaddled in opaqueness, He’s always available. In the midst of our fog of troubles, heart-ache and pain, He alone will stand strong for us - and with us.

And one day, in spite of the unenlightened mist of daily lives, the sun will break through and all things will become clear.

Hallelujah!

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12