Behind our house is a deep ravine. Hubby and I have only ever been down into the ravine once. When our forestry professor came for our site visit a couple of weeks ago and we told him this, and his response was: “Well, today will make it twice!”
It is a straight vertical drop down into the ravine. (our forestry professor estimated it is about a 160-foot elevation drop) Therefore it is a hard scrabble downhill to get to the bottom … and an even harder climb to get back out. Because of this … the ravine is untouched.
Once you reach the bottom, it feels like you have entered a completely different world. It is so peaceful! The peaceful tranquility at the bottom of the ravine is unlike anything I have experienced before (except perhaps a high remote destination hiking in the mountains).
At the bottom of the ravine, it is as if the rest of the crazy chaotic world doesn’t even exist.
You can’t hear or see the airplanes flying overhead anymore. You can’t hear any traffic noise. The only sound is nature itself.
A delightful little stream runs through the ravine. It is completely untouched by the outside world. The water is perfectly clear, as it meanders over slippery mossy rocks and under overhanging mossy branches.
The forest throughout the ravine is a beautiful mixture of all ages of trees and all different kinds of native trees (both conifers and hardwoods).
Our forestry professor was in awe of the ravine. Hubby and I were in awe of the ravine! It truly is a special place! It is a place you don’t want to leave. It is a place of peace … and tranquility. And you can’t help but feel close to your Maker and Creator here!
But the outside world waits. There are pressing things we each need to do! We can’t stay in the ravine forever. Alas, we have to climb back out to the “real world.”
Hubby has endless, never-ceasing drama to deal with at his work. The Bigleaf maples are dropping their leaves, and I have the task of cleaning them up and “mulching” the forest in the front with them.
The precious people in our life need us to be there for them. They need us to care about them … to be there for them and pray for them!
I can’t run away from all the craziness and chaos and difficulty of “real life” and choose to live in the peace and tranquility of the ravine.
I can’t pretend that the suffering and the war going on in our world isn’t happening, and escape to the ravine as if all that doesn’t exist.
We all might want to.
To be honest, I bet we all wish we could “run away” from it all and escape somewhere far far away. Far away from all the chaos of this world in which we live.
But we can’t.
God has chosen for us to live here … right here where we are.
And God has chosen for us to live now … right now at this time in history.
Because God wants us to share His love with these people … the ones we interact with each day.
I stand at the edge of my backyard, and I hear the water in the stream far below at the bottom of the ravine. I can’t get down there … I’m not supposed to live down there. But it’s there nonetheless. That beautiful peaceful “other world” is there.
Just standing at the edge of my backyard, gazing down into the lush, forested mossy ravine … and hearing the water far below … gives me a sense of peace. The ravine is a tiny picture of what Heaven is like.
One day … one day Jesus will take me to Heaven. And it will be even better than the gorgeous, tranquil peace of the ravine. But it’s not time yet.
Jesus has me here … right here where I am … for a purpose!
And so I give everything I have … right here … right here where I am! I love with everything I have. I serve God with everything I have.
And I do so with hope!
Because no matter how bad the world around us gets … Heaven is real! (every bit as real as the peaceful “other world” at the bottom of the ravine!) And I have hope because I get to go there! Jesus is coming! And He will take me to live with Him there … in His gorgeous, untouched, peaceful tranquility forever!
That’s reason to have hope!
