No Less than MOab, Utah

A long-view of the Windows at Arches National Park and the La Sal mountains in the background

There is a certain beauty in a place where humans aren’t supposed to be living.  I found that today at Arches National Park, in Moab, Utah.  We traversed this national park for a little more than 3 hours before heading into the little community of Moab.  Brilliant hues of red, blue, and green.  (Some of which was actually vegetation – you’ll have to visit this place to see why I used the word some)

Of course, there was the obstacle course of humanity that invades Arches on a daily basis.  They were all behind me in a line as I drove the single-lane road through the park, pulling off occasionally for the opportune photo op and allowing the gathered train of traffic to pass on by.  This happened a lot, for both photos and cars.

Simon and Garfunkel once sang, slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the morning last.  While I didn’t kick down the cobblestone, but did manage to trip over a firmly rooted sagebrush while enjoying the scenery (THAT was embarrassing), I felt a rushed presence of the tourists behind me, as if they had another park to go to today.

It wasn’t too long ago, while at a retreat for confirmation youth, I experienced the same phenomena.  I purposefully entered into a prayer labyrinth ahead of the youth to see how long a one would form behind me.  It didn’t take long.  Before I knew it, I had to ‘pull over’ to allow a train of youth in the labyrinth to get to where they needed to go…the center of the labyrinth.  I imagine for many of these youngsters a prayer labyrinth was a new experience.  Not knowing what else to do, you just go with the flow, right?

Life can be lived much the same way.  Without knowing how to live it yourself, you could get sucked by the extreme flow of secular society, rushing down the rapids of life trying to hold on or even blowing wherever life blows you without holding onto something firmly planted…something…say, for example, God.

With the tragic myriad of activities for any one of our family members to be involved with, when would anyone have the time to slow down.  You have to drive through that proverbial park as fast as you can so you can get to another park as soon as possible, right?  Because that’s what life has taught you.  But do you miss a chance to perfectly frame a photo for a memory book?  Would you have the opportunity to be so lost in wonder that you trip over the very wonder you’re wondering about, looking goofy as ever in front of a few hundred people?  Would you even know to stop and take in the various colors of a land that you may only see once?

I’ve got the 59th Street Bridge Song rolling through my head…  especially the last line of the song… Life, I love you, I’m feelin’ groovy.

Maybe, just maybe, you all can join me in singing that first line – slow down, you’re movin’ too fast, you’ve got to make the morning last…today, tomorrow, and the weeks to come.  Life, I love you.  I’m feeling very groovy.