Awestruck

I have always had a love for old, big cathedrals.  Seriously, I am like a bee to honey when I see one.  If you ask my husband or son, they would probably say that when I am visiting a place I leave no cathedral unvisited.  That isn't quite true however because some places have so many it would take several trips to see them all.  Which I just might have to do.  In particular, I am in love with the old cathedrals in Europe-- mostly because here in the U.S. we have few cathedrals that actually compare in size.

I love that over in Europe you have to keep your shoulders and knees covered out of a sense of respect.  I love the smell of age,  incense, and burning candle wax that permeates these buildings.  I love the dimness of the nooks and crannies. I'm in love with the feeling of being small when I stand in the middle of one of these grand churches and crane my head up, up, up to look towards the extremely high ceilings.  I love the fact that they employ "shushers."  Most of the cathedrals are working places of worship, and as such they ask you to be quiet out of respect to those who may be praying.  Tourists, being tourists, often forget in their excitement to be quiet-- thus some of the larger, more visited cathedrals have people who remind you to be quiet by shushing you.  Some do it over a P.A. system, which is interesting. I love the carvings, the sculpture, the stained glass windows, and the paintings often contained within these structures.  I get practically giddy when I am in a cathedral where I am allowed to climb well worn staircases made of stone.  The fact that you can see the worn spots where people have walked up and down for centuries is amazing to me.  I particularly love cathedrals that contain some of the old wooden benches, where people have sat and worshiped and prayed for years. I love the way the sunbeams shine through the windows to illuminate parts of the flooring, or the alter, or a piece of artwork.  I love the patterns left on the floor by sunbeams passing through a stained glass window.  I'm in awe of the domes and buttresses.  All of it time consumingly handcrafted.  I love the fact that these buildings have seen some of the worst that people and life can throw at them, and yet, they are still here.  They have withstood changes in political power, famine, war, natural disaster, times of plenty and times of scarcity... and they still stand.

If I were to describe the feeling I get every time I walk into one of these buildings, the word would be Awestruck.  These buildings are amazing works of architecture, especially considering that they were built in a place and time where they had no modern machinery to use in the building process.  

The photo above is from the inside of the Milan Cathedral in Italy.  It is the fifth largest cathedral in the world.  This church took six centuries to complete.  Six centuries!  It is built in the Italian Gothic style and has a capacity of 40,000.  She is 520 feet long, 302 feet wide and 354 feet tall.  She also has 135 spires on the rooftop. Interestingly enough, the church facade was  completed upon an order from  a famous Frenchman, Napoleon Bonaparte.  This cathedral has survived political turmoil and even the  bombing of Milan during World War II.

Some people love this cathedral, for it's grandeur.  For it's over the top design.  Some people hate it for the same reasons.  I however, had the same reaction I have to every cathedral I step into.  I was awestruck!

So, I have a question for you today.  What leaves you awestruck?  What inspires a sense of wonder?  In this very cynical day and age, an age where we have more information available to us than we possibly have time to read or absorb, does anything leave you in awe?

Being awestruck is something I think we should all seek out once and a while.  For me, being awestruck is a combination of being filled with wonder, gratitude,and a sense of humility.  Those moments of awe remind me of how small I really am, in the big scheme of things.  It reminds me to be grateful for  my life.  These moments bring a sense of reverence to my life that I don't have in the little everyday moments.  And the awestruck moments I experience in these amazing cathedrals do what they were intended to do; that is to  remind me of how big my God is.  How everlasting, ever loving, ever present, never changing He is.  And when I slow down enough to feel all of that, I am awestruck.

This scripture from Psalms captures some of what I feel, standing there:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you care for him? "  Psalm 8:3-4

As we start the Holiday Season, take some time to be awestruck.  Leave some time for wonder.  Look for those little moments that make you feel small, grateful, and full of wonder.  That's what this season is meant to inspire, a sense of awe that God would give up what He held most dear in order to show a weary world how much He loved them.  Be awestruck today that you are deeply loved!

I'll leave you with a few more photos of some of my favorite cathedrals.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Duomo Milano

Notre Dame, Paris

Notre Dame, Paris

 Notre Dame, Paris

St. Eustache, Paris

St. Sevren, Paris

Duomo Montalcino, Italy

Duomo, Siena, Italy

Duomo Siena, Italy

Duomo in Lucca, Italy

San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy

St. Peter's, Vatican

Barcelona Cathedral

What Do You See?

Take a look at the picture above.  When you look at this photo, what do you see (besides the obvious that's it's a lioness)?  Do you see anger?  Do you see danger?

I'll admit, that this photo makes this lioness look fierce, which she is.  Depending on how you look at it, and what you know about lions, it may or may not look like she is unhappy, mad even.  However, she isn't unhappy or upset at all.... she's yawning.  Which, if you spend any time around lions you understand that hey do this a lot... probably because they also sleep... a lot.

So, now that you understand  that she is yawning, does it change your perception of the photo?  Does it change how you feel about the lion?

There's a lot of stuff going on in our world today.  And, I would argue, that if you don't take a moment to stop and gain some understanding, you may walk away with a certain perception of what is happening.  And it would be really easy to see what you want to, or to assume something without really doing any research to see if your assumption is true. We all do this.

I found myself doing it the other night when watching the reports of the protests that are taking place.  I immediately went into assumption and judgement mode.  I will admit that I looked at the news video of one protest that was mostly High School students, and my immediate thought was... you are just looking for a way to get out of school.  I watched another report where some protesters then began to riot-- tearing up property, burning stuff, etc.... and I began to think things like you are just using this as an excuse to be destructive.  Words like immature, crybaby, spoiled, sore losers, over- reactionary, etc. floated through my skull.  And while some of those words and judgements may be right about some of these people, it occurred to me that I might not be looking at the full picture-- I might need some backstory.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt helpless?  Or taken advantage of?  Or powerless?  I have.  And that isn't a good feeling.  When you feel that way, what is your first instinct? I would say for many of us it would be to lash out, in any way we can.  To try and find a way to regain some sense of control.  That I can understand.  I by no means condone acts of violence or destruction.  Nor do I condone the name calling and ugliness of words that some people are flinging about. That's wrong no matter how you feel.  But, I can admit that while I may not fully approve of these protests, these people have the right to peacefully do so.  I can acknowledge that it's their own way of feeling like they have some type of control.  With understanding comes a form of compassion.  I begin to see them not as mindless, faceless, nameless beings, but as real people.

And I think that transformation.... seeing people as real... is what we all need to do in order to move forward.  I may never agree with you politically, but I can meet in you in the areas where we have some shared experience.  We can all relate to feelings of helplessness.  We can all relate to feelings of love.  We can all relate to the common shared experience of being a human being in a world that is sometimes hard and sometimes easy.  It's super hard being a human being.  If that's all we can agree on, I can work with that.  I must work with that.  If I am willing to at least listen to your backstory it might change my perception of your photo.  I might just look at your photo through eyes of understanding and compassion.

So, as hard as it is for me, I'm going to try and do that more.  My great hope for our country and for our world, is that we all try to do more of that.  That's it.  Nothing super fancy about today's blog.  But I will leave you with some more photos of these lionesses at night.

Just a little more backstory... we were in our Range Rover, at night and surrounded on all sides by a pride of 13 lions, mostly female with a few subadult males.  It was absolutely one the best things I have ever done.  It was also one of the most intimidating, because you can only spotlight one or two lions at a time, which means that at any given moment there are roughly 11 lions that you can't see.  You can't see where they are or what they are doing.  At one point, A big lioness walked over to my side of the vehicle and laid down right below my door.  My topless, windowless door.  I was aware that she had laid there, but soon forgot about her as we were spotlighting another lioness on the opposite side of the vehicle.  A few moments into this activity, as I was concentrating on taking photos of the other lioness, the lion laying beside me sneezed.  And I about dropped my camera, the sound was so close and startling.  No point to that story... just a fond memory.  Have a great week!

The Value of a Different Viewpoint...I refuse to do Easy

As you may have guessed from the above photo, today's blog involves Cheetah's.  While in the Kalahari, we came across these two Cheetah brothers.  You may notice that one brother has a collar on him.  He's part of a research project that studies Cheetah's in the wild in order to learn more about their species and enable scientists to help them in their bid to keep them from extinction.

These two brother's have figured out that hunting together is more productive.... and I'm sure there are many lessons that can be talked about here, but not today.

Cheetah's, unlike many of the big cat species, are almost always daytime hunters.  They can hunt nocturnally, but their night vision isn't as good as some of your other big cat species, like Leopard or Lion. I probably don't need to tell you that while they are daytime hunters, their particular talent lay in their speed.  

What you may or may not know is that Cheetah's are constantly on the lookout... for prey... for threats.... etc.  And in order to keep this lookout, they will often climb up on whatever offers the highest point around them.  Often this is  a termite mound.  On this day, however, this brother chose to climb a tree in order to get a different viewpoint.  By climbing the tree, the Cheetah can scan the horizon, looking for prey.  He can also scan for threats.  While up in the tree, this Cheetah also took a few minutes to smell the air and to smell the tree.  Through what he sensed he could once again discover if there were any threats nearby, if prey were nearby, who had been through this part of his territory, and also to make sure that no one else has marked his territory.  In all, this Cheetah gained a lot of knowledge just by looking from another vantage point.

And now, I'm going to make the leap from this African Cheetah to what is happening today.  You may or may not know it, but there was a presidential election this week.  This election was the culmination of one of the most divisive election processes in U.S. history.  And of course, just because the election is over, doesn't mean that the anger over this election is gone.  In fact, it almost seems to be rising up.

And this anger is on both sides.  Those who voted for the candidate that lost are still angry.  Those who voted for the candidate that won are angry.  And both groups are extremely vocal in their anger.  Throughout the election campaign process, people, as they often do when riled up and heated, made promises that if their candidate lost, they would move to another country.  Both sides predicted dire consequences should the other candidate win.  Think Chicken Little and the sky is falling.... Neither side was willing to give, and both sides drew concrete lines in the sand.  Name calling ensued, with one side calling the other racist, bigots, stupid, deplorable, and sexist to name a few.  The other side clapped back by calling them murderers, cheaters,  lazy, immoral, and Godless.  There was an insinuation from both sides that you couldn't be a "Christian" and vote for the other candidate.  And even though the election is over, this behavior has continued to escalate.  It's childish.  It's immature.  And it's dangerous.  And this behavior, this unwillingness to  acknowledge that a different viewpoint can have value, will keep us from growth.  It will stagnate us and doom us all to forever squabble over petty issues without ever allowing us to take any positive action towards solving any of the problems we currently face in our nation.  We will all loose.

You see, we forget that this nation was built upon and founded by those who had different viewpoints.  And, I would argue, that when we valued different viewpoints, we made some of the greatest strides forward as a nation.  The abolition of slavery stemmed from people who had a differing view from those who had traditionally held power.  Women's suffrage came from differing viewpoints.  

People who view things differently are the people who have helped us make great strides in technology (computers), transportation (cars, airplanes, rockets), music, art, literature, religion (read the New Testament) etc....  Every stride forward has been because someone, somewhere, began to think outside of the box.  

I personally learn the most from people who think differently than I do.  Those who view things differently teach me valuable lessons about myself, others, relationship, love, respect, and about the great diversity that exists within the human race.  They teach me what it means to really understand someone else and myself.  I may not change my position, or agree with their viewpoint,  but I always learn something more about why I view things the way I do.  And all this brings immeasurable value to my life.  I do not have to agree with you for you to bring value to me.

There is a disturbing trend of people saying to others that if they don't agree with what is happening, they should leave the country.  I vehemently disagree with that thought process.  If those people left, so would the opportunity for growth, for understanding, for new thoughts and ideas, for relationship, for learning.....Don't go.  Instead, stay.  Stay and reach out to those who differ from you.  Stay, and be bold and vulnerable enough to reach out and teach others what you know.  Be willing to agree to disagree on issues, yet still hold a space wherein you value that other person and what they bring to the table. Be willing to do the hard work of coming to the table and offering your voice and skill, and viewpoint, in order to help us bring about progressive and new strides as a a nation.  Stay, and do the hard work of forming relationships with those who are unlike you.  Love is hard, hate is easy.  Don't do easy.  

For the record, and I know this will probably shock a lot of my conservative friends, the candidate I voted for lost.  And yes, I am conservative on several issues.  Yes I am a Christian ( of which you do not get the right to label me as otherwise-- only God has that right).  And yes, I voted for what some might call the non-conservative choice.  Some of my most favorite and dearest friends and family voted for the candidate that won.  Guess what, my sky is not falling in.  My relationships are not compromised or damaged.  Why?  Because I value relationship over differing viewpoints.    The relationship comes first for me.  Nor do I degrade or dis-value others viewpoints.  They have merit.  They have value.  And I learn much from them.  And honestly, the list of the things we agree on is so much longer than the few items on the list where we disagree.  I would rather do the hard work of having loving, healthy, and respectful relationships.  I gain more from that hard groundwork than hate will ever give me. I refuse to do the easy thing. And today, I am challenging you to do the hard work of coming together, regardless of whether or not you agree on a few issues.  I challenge you to not do easy.

So, if you have made it this far, and you still like me Yeah!!!  And if you don't, well, I respect your right to have that opinion.  I hope that we can come to a point of mutual respect.  Either way, I'll leave you with a few more photos of those amazing Cheetah brothers, because come on, who doesn't like Cheetahs?

Keep Your Arms & Legs Inside the Vehicle... Trust Issues

This is an African Elephant Bull.  Our guide indicated that he was around 30 years of age and in his prime.  Males stand  around 13 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh over 13,000 pounds.  His tusks alone weigh over 50 pounds.  They can rip trees right out of the ground with their trunk and tusks. They are big, strong, and smart.

We spotted this guy calmly grazing off in the distance and our guide decided to see if we could get closer to him.  And so, after reminding us to keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle and that we need to stay seated, off we went through the grassland to get a closer look.

Let me tell you, as we got closer, I didn't need anyone to remind me to keep my arms and legs inside the vehicle.  It's hard to describe just how massive these animals are.  Remember, I am taking the photos from an open air range rover, so I'm sitting up pretty high.  Johan, our guide, maneuvered the rover closer and turned the vehicle to enable us to get a clear line of sight  so we could watch this amazing animal as he grazed.  

At some point, he decided that he would like to get a better look at us as well and he began to move slowly, but steadily, towards our vehicle.

Almost before we knew it, he was up close and personal.  Like I could almost reach out and touch him close ( I didn't because I was pretty sure he would rip my arm off if I tried).  And this is the moment where trust comes into play.  I have to trust that this animal will not harm me.  I have to trust that my guide would get us out of harms way if need be.  And this animal, this big, huge, male must also trust us.  His only real enemy right now is mankind. I don't know if you are aware, but elephants are under extreme threat from poaching.  The poachers are using the trust that these animals have placed in humans against them.  And yet, this elephant still made the choice to trust us on this day. 

And this moment of mutual trust births something magical.  It allows us to all be in the same place, at the same time, simply observing and enjoying the moment.  I'm not sure what the elephant got out of the moment other than he was able to assuage  his curiosity about us, but I walked away with an amazing appreciation for and greater understanding of these animals.  Not to mention some awesome photo's.  In fact I enlarged one of my photos' of this guy and he now hangs on our wall in our breakfast room.

Trust these days is an issue.  I get it, trust requires us to be vulnerable.  To display trust we must be willing to show our weak side.  It is uncomfortable to be vulnerable around those who can cause you harm.  And no one wants to be the first person to show their weak side to a potential enemy.  

However, if we refuse to extend trust to others, if we resist being vulnerable, we will miss out on the magic moments of connection.  And connection is the reason we are all here, in this place, at this moment. Those moments of connection, of greater appreciation and understanding, they are sacred.  They are what we were created for.  And by refusing to be the first ones to extend the hand of trust to others, we end up stomping all over those sacred moments with our dirty feet.  And we miss something valuable.

So my challenge to myself and to you is to be the first one to offer trust and vulnerability to someone else.  Begin to bravely seek those moments when you can gain a greater appreciation and understanding of those around you. You can agree to disagree with someone without removing the bond of trust.   My hope is that we all learn to set aside these feelings of mistrust and learn to come together towards some mutual understanding. Maybe, just maybe, if we all try this, our world will line up with the vision that God has for it, instead of the vision that we each individually hold.  Hmmmmm, wouldn't that be amazing?

So, with that thought, I'll leave you with a few more photos of this amazing animal.  Have a great week!