Thankful for the redwood trees

I am thankful that God made the redwood trees.

I am thankful that I had the opportunity this summer to fulfill a lifelong dream and visit the redwood forests of northern California.

Again, I hesitate to share this thankfulness, because I waited so long to see these trees.  Before I got to go, whenever I heard about others who had seen them, I felt a trifle jealous.  When I viewed pictures of redwood forests, I was filled with intense longing to be there.

While I was there, my heart about overflowed to bursting with the wonder of it.  So far beyond what I'd imagined, God's creation brought tears to my eyes and a long-lasting lump to my throat.  The sheer beauty of the roads we traveled to get there was enough to make me almost sick, and numb, and punch drunk.  I remember pressing my hands to my collar bones as Shawn drove up the winding 101, each curve seeming to reveal a new, breathtaking vista of glory.  I remember whimpering, "I can't absorb it all.  I don't know what to do. I just can't absorb it all."

I remember standing in the forests, in the stillness beneath the giant trees, sensing the slow pulse of life through the roots in the ground while mysterious dappled light glowed green through the foliage.  Deep, rich scents of earth, bark, leaves and spring wildflowers (it was May).  Looking up, so far up.  Being there.  Surreal.  Holy.

I am thankful for the redwood trees, and for the fulfillment of a dream, and for God who sheds grace on earth through the beauty of His creation.