Garden of Gods (gods)
In the middle of our recent trip to Colorado, primarily to
attend our granddaughter’s high school graduation, we drove down to Colorado
Springs for several days. The side trip
helped fill in a couple of days when those we were visiting had work and school
obligations, and it afforded Michelle and I the opportunity to visit some unique
areas that we hadn’t seen before. One of
the areas we spent a day hiking around in is known as the Garden of the Gods.
I really appreciated the fact that park entrance, the
beautiful Visitor’s Center, the parking and access to the hiking trails was all
free. From the park’s own website: “In
1909, Garden of the Gods Park was deeded to the City of Colorado Springs under
the condition that this one-of-a-kind place remain “forever free” to the
public.” Every other major park that we
visited in Colorado requires at the least, paid access to the park and fairly
expensive parking once you are through the gates. My sincere thanks that, despite both local
and state agencies being involved, that
they are still honoring their pledge to keep the park free to the public.
The park has an interesting history. Again, from the park’s own website: “In
August of 1859, two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite,
soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came
upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. Surveyor M. S. Beach suggested
that it would be a “capital place for a Biergarten” [beer garden] when the
country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a “young and poetic man”,
exclaimed, “Biergarten! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will
call it the Garden of the Gods.” It has been so-called ever since.”
That history is so human.
On my little walks here at home I focus many times on the little things,
the brief sitings that many people may overlook, whether that’s a roadside wild
rose, or the hovering flight of the kestrel.
In Colorado, there seems to be no risk of anything being
overlooked. Whether it’s a view from the
top of Pike’s Peak, an overlook of snow-capped mountains in Estes Park, or the
sandstone wonders of the “Garden”, everything in Colorado seems enormous, and
impossible to miss. But as humans,
especially modern, post-Christian humans, we can get so focused on the beauty and
wonder of creation and miss the reality that all that grandeur, all that natural
beauty, the enormous and the delicate, all point us to the Creator. We all seem to understand that when looking
at great art, it helps to know the artist to fully appreciate his or her
work. But so many today, in a misplaced desire
to live unexamined lives, feel that they can appreciate creation without
knowing the Master Artist.
That early surveyor Rufus Cable, seemed to be more aware
than M.S. Beach, but he missed the mark at least twice. Many gods only exist in man-imagined myth and
legend. There is just one. And, He has no need to “assemble”; He is
always present in all of His creation.
The beauty and wonder of this world, of all of creation is
merely invitation to relationship from God to know Him and love Him. If you have already found Him, you realize you
must respond to that invitation, because
as St. John tells us, “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John
4:19
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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