I flew from fish camp to Nome this week, to speak in a church, to discover new friends, and to wander the mountains and tundra of this spectacular place. I do not have many words today, just a question, a question I have asked a few blades of grass, sea-ice, animals and birds, even the lichen in this stunning land so very far from even my faraway island.
Come with me---ask with me, and see what they answer,
"But ask the animals and they will
teach you . .."
(Muskox)
(In their gorgeous qiviute skirts)
"The birds of the heavens, and they will tell you . . ."
" . . .Or the bushes and lichens of the tundra, and they will tell you . . .
(Or, listen to the beaches and rivers of the far North, and they will speak to you . . . )
(Bering Sea Ice at the village of Teller)
Who among all these does not know?
"Who among all these does not know?
In HIS hand is the life of every living
thing, and the
breath of all mankind . .. .
. .. the life of every creature, and the
breath of all mankind."
---Job 12
What shall we do then? What can we do but join all of creation, and join Gerard Manley Hopkins in praise?
"All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him."
(From "Pied Beauty")
This is worship. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGod is awesome in His santuary.... What a glory to see His grandeur and grace!!!! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteAnd to see His sanctuary even in the far north lands!! All we lack is a seeing heart . ..
DeleteBeautiful. That's one reason I love getting to the mountains/wilderness/away from civilization--the silence that lets one just think. Or just be. :)
ReplyDeleteCheryl Russell
Cheryl, It was indeed silent out there on the tundra---except for birds everywhere just returning to nest. Birders flew in from all over the world for that week. Amazing! (Thanks for going with me!)
Delete"All things bright and beautiful,
ReplyDeleteAll creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all."
Cecil H. Alexander
As a landscape photographer, I would have loved to walk in your shoes to see all this firsthand! Thank you for sharing!
I love those verses, Mary! Indeed, they are fitting. (And I didn't know you were a landscape photographer! You would have done better justice to the land and animals than I did, I'm sure!
DeleteIsn't God amazing? He takes our breath away, and you were able to capture some great photos. Thanks for sharing, Leslie!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Diane! Soon you'll be here taking your own great photos!!
DeleteDear Leslie,
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing trip. I'm so glad you got to go. What wonders you saw. Who knew a muskox could "speak" so eloquently.
Thanks Leslie for sharing those wonders! I very much needed to see this verse and these pics today. Thanks for being a conduit of God's presence and love in my life, enabling vicarious worship of our Creator. (I love to hike in my native CO, but haven't done so for a while. This got me out and about a bit!)
I also recently finished reading your Surviving The Island Of Grace book. I'm glad God gave you words for it, and that I read them. One of the last sentences was about faith building a bridge between your fears of the future and what you know to be true of God. That has stuck in my mind and heart, now written in the front of my Bible to remind me to come to Him who is more than enough, worthy of my praise and desirous of my nearness.
Thanks for sharing your journey, allowing God to encourage others in their paths.
God's peace to you.
Aimee Doerksen
Aimee---Thank you for your so-encouraging words, which came at just the right time. I'm grateful you have allowed me entrance into your life. I'm thinking about those words you wrote in your Bible …. and it has come to pass, that GOd has brought goodness and joy into my life and into this place---through the passage of time, through His own faithfulness, through the small bit of faithfulness I was able to hold onto. I am trusting Him with you for whatever lies ahead as well. Unto Him, Leslie
DeleteAMEN. GLORIOUS. Thank you, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe become numb to the beauty outside our own doors and have to see what's in our neighbor's "backyard" before we cry, "Glory! Glory! Glory!"
ReplyDeleteLeslie - I recognize the eaglets! And your comments on our blog did post. I had a wonderful time out on Harvester and Bear Island, and do have plenty to tell you about the archaeology of your island. I think one of the coolest sites might be right in front of your house. I think it is a 3000 to 4000 year old spring cod-processing site.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow Zoya the kids and I are off for some camping on Afognak Island. And thank you so much for having me out to your place. Give my best to the crew, and I'm dying to know if Christy has cooked any of the beach spinach (lamb's quarters). I know Abraham and Mica certainly liked it. I fed Nora, Stuey and Zoya nettles and beach spinach that I picked on your beach when I got home. Patrick
Patrick! Glad you got those notes. I am SO excited about this cod-processing site--and you have no idea how bummed I am to have missed your time on the island. (Can I fly you back??) Have a terrific camping trip----and maybe I can email you when you return? I am very interested in all this, particularly in light of my new book I'm working on now: the spirituality of water and fishing and maritime cultures … (My email is leslieleylandfields@gmail.com)
DeleteLeslie, cleaning out my email inbox and decided to reread this post. It brought tears to my eyes. I absolutely love wildlife. To be honest, this was a part of myself that was buried until recently. In the last two years God healed me of past wounds and moved us out to an acreage. It was then that I realized how much I love His animals and nature. Your photos are incredibly beautiful and such a testament to the creativity of the Creator. I recently wrote a blog post about how I love to talk to wild animals so I naturally gravitated to your post. Thank you for sharing. You are obviously a gifted photographer as well.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I'm with you! I find great healing here as well. I go the fountain of Creation ---and drink, and I am calmed, reminded of God's vast love for all of these creatures, and us. Grateful with you for this balm, still and always, needed.
Delete