I often write about finding the mystery, what I call God, on the hiking trail. It’s no wonder; there’s a distance from things of this world in the wilderness. There is a beauty that envelopes me as a journey through the woods or along a river bank or in an arid meadow.

The risk is that we begin to perceive beauty only faraway from home. When we do that, we begin to perceive the Divine as removed and separate from us. Yet, God is with us always.

God’s breath blows around us and we breathe in immeasurable love wherever we find ourselves. But too often we are distracted. Distracted, we fail to sense the One who connects us to each other and the whole of creation.

Overnight, following a light, late afternoon snow the fog rolled into the tiny, isolated town I call home. As the sun rose this morning the ice reminded me that beauty is as close as my backyard.

Mother God, May we always be reminded that the beauty of your love surrounds us wherever we may be. Amen.