The big horizon...

The expanse of the horizon is something unknown to a New Yorker. There is nothing quite like seeing the whole horizon without buildings, without roads, without power lines and without people. As we drove through west Texas this afternoon and up through New Mexico this evening we could see for miles. The sun began to set over the mountains in New Mexico and it was a gorgeous orange which gradually turned to pink illuminating the clouds as it did so.

What is it about space that allows our souls to sour, our minds to wander and our hearts to run free? Perhaps it is the natural site that we so infrequently witness in our busy lives, or perhaps it is the endless possibilities that comes with that great expanse of nature. Perhaps we are forced to listen to ourselves think, there are no more distractions that we have created for ourselves.

In our culture of cell phones, ipods, iphones and droids we don’t ever have to watch the world go by, we can simply continue to watch tv or listen to our music. There was an ad for the Olympics this year demonstrating just that point, it is a man walking down the street who is watching women’s figure skating as he walks along and turns the corners. Now maybe I’m old fashioned or maybe I love living by the old saying “to stop and smell the roses” but this seems a bit unnecessary.

I think that’s why I found this stretch of the drive so mesmerizing. We were told before we made this 14 hour stretch of our trip that it would be long and it would be boring, as it is in the middle of nowhere by our busy standards. Now reflecting on the drive, I found it refreshing, it is an incredible privilege to be able to see so much of mother nature, and see all the beauty that God has created.