The Smoke Mountains

Last week were blessed to spend some time in Jeanne's neck of the woods. We vacationed in Pigeon Forge with good friends from a church my husband and I served while in Lexington, KY. It was wonderful, and much needed, to be away from home and all the responsibilities back in Clarksville. We slept in and ate, shopped and ate, rode go-karts and ate, played miniature golf and ate, played at Splash Country and ate, stayed up late visiting and ate. We did a lot as you can see, but we mostly ate. Since eating is one of my very favorite things to do, I was very happy.

One of the reasons, besides the eating and shopping, that I love to get to that area of the state, is its beauty. Yes, it rained at least a little each day and we did see some flooded roads when we headed into town. But, The "Smoke Mountains," as Riley calls them, were still majestic and beautiful.

I imagined living there and how awesome it would be to be surrounded by God's beautiful creation everyday and then a thought occurred to me. How long would it take for me to become immune to that beauty? At what point would I begin to take it for granted and fail to see God's glory in the heights of the mountains? I wasn't even vacationing there a full week, and I am afraid that very thing was beginning to happen before I left.

This challenged me to really stop once I got home -on the other side of the plateau- and open my eyes to the way God's majesty is displayed right in my own backyard, literally. The Crape Myrtles are blooming. My rose bushes are budding. The birds are singing and we too have the occasional wild turkey grace our yard with his presence.

Let me encourage you to take a moment to pause and open your eyes to God's created glory around you today. I had to go to the mountains to really see what was surrounding me all the time right at home.