When Life Swirls~

A few weeks back, I took a trip to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park. I drove the van across country (again).

My son Levi, serving in the USAF had a few days...and it's been far too long since he and I have made a respectable hike.

So I traversed the country to pick him up. We drove another 7 hours to the park and set up camp.

The first night, we opted to hike the the Smith Spring, that you see here.

Here are a few things that I took note of while hiking to the spring and obtaining the subsequent image.

First, it was all desert. Dry as heck. Arid, with a smattering of green here and there. Juniper and Cedar mostly. However, certainly not the forests you would see in the mountains.

The trail on this one was not overly difficult, but it was gray.

Well, it was gray until we closed in on the spring.

It began to slowly, on the walk get more and more green, until we were at the end of the line, this spring.

It's not a big spring, but it was deep and incredibly clear.

Here are a few things that I noted after making the hike and upon loading this image for some editing.

Our life with Christ is like this hike and like this spring.

Jesus is ahead of us. The closer we get to the spring in the desert of our lives, the greener it can tend to be.

Like the trees close to the water on the trail, we are filled with what we need to flourish. Sure, others in the desert can maintain some semblance of green, like the junipers on the desert floor, but they are few and far between and have developed in such a way that they survive out there. Ultimately, however, they need water too. They have just learned how to use less of it, and hold onto it for longer periods of time in their systems.

At this spring, the water was clear as could be. Clean, crisp, and frankly, refreshing.

The source, as you can see in the image comes out of the rocks above.

In this shot, to me, the movement of the leaves is not unlike our lives. Things swirl around us creating turmoil and at times terror.

The circle us, trying to take us away from the source.

However, deep in the water, you will note that it's very clear, and very calm. If you look closely, you can actually see the rocks and gravel, in spite of the swirling of the leaves.

What's interesting in this image is that the water to the naked eye is incredibly calm. The leaves were swirling ever so slowly. It took me exposing the sensor for a full 10 seconds to get this movement. We're you to just walk up and look for a second, you likely wouldn't even see the leaves moving.

In the grander scheme of life, I think we need to remember, that in Christ, our Spring, there is calm.

Take notice, also, that the closer you get to the source, the running water at the rock, there are no leaves, no swirling.

No, instead, the closer you get to the spring, the clearer it gets.

It occurred to me that this is in fact almost a metaphor of our lives.

We become immersed in our unhealthy choices, they become normal to us, that to our naked eye, we can't see. However, if we slow it down, if we really expose what it going on, we can see the swirling that trouble us.

The better part though, is that when we slow it down, as I did in this shot, we can better see the path to the source.

The source pushes away the swirling in our lives and keeps a shelter of calm and renewal and refreshing water around us.

If you are beat down, frustrated, and tired. Worn out by the swirling, slow down. Take time to look around you when you do.

Observe your surroundings and you will see a way to where the trees green up, the rock where the water comes from, and the deep and much needed refreshing that being close to the well spring of life will bring.

Well, at least that's what I think anyway.