Tidings of Comfort and Joy: Wyoming Photographer

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

I got an early Christmas present this weekend.

For about an hour, I got to wander a small section of the Big Horn National Forest.  Just me, the crunch of snow and the smell of pine trees.

It was glorious.  I wandered down a snowy path, camera in hand.  I took a few pictures, but mostly I just enjoyed being up there.  I felt the sun on my cheeks filtered through decades old lodgepole pines.  I ran my hand over bark, its ridges and valleys forming a living relief map under my palm.  I listened to the wind, the chattering of a red squirrel, the “chick a dee-dee-dee” song of my favorite mountain bird.  Sometimes, I heard nothing at all, the forest so calm and quiet it felt other worldly.

My husband and father-in-law had trudged up the path in search of a Christmas tree.  I stayed behind because I had my own agenda…a few minutes alone in one of my most favorite places on earth.

As I sat on an old stump and simply bathed in the experience, I thought of one of my favorite quotes from John Muir.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

Eyes closed, face to the sun, I breathed in what was good and used it to nourish my soul, to let my cares and past hurts and concerns fall away like leaves, if only for those few transcendent minutes.