Hiking Psalm 23

The Lord is my guide and protector.
I lack nothing.
In green grass I am encouraged to lie down and enjoy creation.
When I come upon flowers, I am inspired to observe them closely.
I am led beside raging waters to be reminded of God’s mighty power.
I am led to stand by still waters and reflect —
contemplate.
My soul is always restored in such instances.
Though I walk through confounding forests,
around great boulders
and past numerous obstacles,
I am not afraid because God is with me —watching over me, comforting me.
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Photos © Sondra Sula. Words inspired by Psalm 23.
Location: Yellowstone National Park and Taggart Lake Trail in Grand Teton National Park.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Accepting Mystery

Mystery is a concept we all understand, yet it is little understood.
In Genesis 1:2 the Bible reads: The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
I never contemplated that verse extensively until we visited the Grand Prismatic Spring and its accompanying pools in Yellowstone National Park.
The shrouded mist gave the landscape an otherworldly atmosphere
and I could imagine the Spirit of God there compressing colors,
etching designs upon the earth and
playfully interacting with the water.
We were an idea yet to be formed.
What movement do I allow on the “face of my waters?”
Am I dry?
Or do I allow Mystery in — to potentially disturb my “waters” in a way that encourages growth?
And what might I find there? The River of Life?

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Lesson of the Day

My image of Yellowstone National Park had always been throngs of people, bumper-to-bumper traffic and no parking places at any of the must-see sights.
I thought driving to the entrance would be an hours-long wait, especially in the high season: summer. But that wasn’t the case.
Sure, Old Faithful lured plenty of people, but we found a parking space immediately and the geyser went off five minutes after we got there. Others had been grumpily waiting there for two hours.
Afterwards, we needed to use the restrooms and headed towards the lone lodge, as did everyone else. We found a side door and — voila — two small restrooms awaited us. When we exited the bathrooms, people were lined up in the hallway, as far we could see.
Other than the Almost-an-American-Rite-of-Passage Old Faithful, other attractions were only peppered with people.
Dragon’s Mouth Spring (nostrils of smoke!) was nearly empty
and other mud pools were downright deserted.
Because it was relatively quiet we could hear the strange hissing sounds of mud vents
and the burbling of roiling water.
Over and over I was surprised by how much I was enjoying myself. I even saw a gray wolf!
I felt very blessed, as if I was in a pleasant dream. I realized I had prejudged something without experiencing it myself. Perhaps that was my lesson of the day.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

The Ultimate Artist

My husband and I are both artists, so we couldn’t miss Artist Point in Yellowstone National Park.
The palette of colors was impressive.
A massive waterfall plunged down with such force it created a little atmosphere of fog in one part of the canyon.
To say that creation is majestic is only part of what makes it astounding.
Creation is serenity inducing,
precarious, 
tenacious
and life-giving — much like God.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.

Mammoth Task

Our trip to Yellowstone National Park was almost cancelled a few days before I was set to fly out to meet Rob in Billings, Montana.
My husband’s paleontological field season had been a series of negative events, small and large — and he was only two weeks in.
A couple of years ago a freak blizzard closed all the entrances to Yellowstone and we had to make a death-defying thirteen-hour detour.
Was God trying to tell me something?
Was my plane going down in a fiery plume?
Was I slated to fall off a cliff on one of our hikes?
The day before our trip my husband called with news that the trip was back on.
Well, here goes…
I didn’t panic in Salt Lake City, Utah, when I was still sitting on the plane thirteen minutes before my next flight was boarding. Instead I thought: Delta is going to hold the plane, I just know it. And they did.
When we arrived at the northern entrance to Yellowstone, I expected a long wait, but there were only two cars in front of us.
And when we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, it may have been forty-two degrees with gusty winds and pelting rain, but we found a parking spot easily. And then I stood in awe with the thought: God is good, really, really good. Amazing, in fact.

Photos © Sondra Sula.

Take a walk with me by reading my daily devotional book, Meditations on Mendocino by Sondra Sula. Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.

If you’d prefer a daily river walk, Reflections on the Fox River and Beyond by Sondra Sula, might just be the book for you.