Alaska

I have officially been in Alaska for one week and the wonders of creation I was privileged to see yesterday shattered my previous understanding of the word "beautiful." I am fairly certain I took the most gorgeous photo of my life to date. Behold:

I have no words to describe the tranquility of this place. No single word - no string of a thousand words - to even begin to extrapolate the majesty of this place back to anything my limited human mind can fully grasp and appreciate.

I was talking to a friend this morning before church and I said I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I think I've seen the movie once in my life and probably wouldn't even be able to tell the story if asked, but in lieu of so much beauty, my mind is consumed with wonder.

In a desciption of a picture I posted earlier, I described my adventures as "whimsical." And a comment my Uncle John left for me in response struck me. He said "I don't hear the word 'whimsical' everyday...It's a joyful word. Never lose the whimsical part of you, Kelly. May God bless you even more than he has already."

And he's so right. I don't hear the word used often either. I don't use it myself, or honestly think of it commonly. But the blues and greens of the landscape and the yellows and pinks of the wildflowers I saw yesterday were so gloriously vibrant and so impossibly brilliant. And the beauty spilled over into a flawless reflection on the clearest lake I'd ever seen. It was so peacefully perfect that I imagined that even in the faintest disturbance of taking my tiny pinky finger and brushing the surface of the water I would send ripples of reality through the water and shatter that little piece of Heaven. And so I sat there and let the beauty rush over my heart in waves until I was filled with pure wonder.

And in wonder, my joy is full. I talked to another friend after church who said my smile was felt across the 2000 miles separating us. And I can't help but be ridiculously grateful and feel overwhelmingly humbled by creation. By the care and purity of love with which this world was created for us. I read Virginia Pearce's book, A Heart Like His, and in it she relates the love and joy a mother has as she imagines each of her children opening each of their gifts on Christmas moring to the joy our Father and Savior felt as they created this world for us. Imagining each of us individully and delighting in the joy they'd see in our eyes when we experienced new treasures of the world.

And in light of that analogy, I have to compare myself to a little child jumping up and down with pure joy at my gift - the gift of creation. We are so wonderfully blessed to live in this beautiful world. I just pray that I can be humble enough to never forget how truly blessed I am by a perfect Father in Heaven.



Other magic in Alaska:

1. I have seen four moose already. I am constantly scanning the forests lining the running trails thinking that a large mammal will charge me at any given moment.

2. I saw my first black bear in the wild. He ambled across the hiking trail (leading to a real glacier, which I might add is NOT the same thing as an iceberg like the one that sunk Titanic...) 30 feet in front of my friend Beth and I. Picutres will follow - they are on my real camera and I don't have it with me at the moment... But, the bear came after reading and reflecting on this wonderful sign. "If a bear starts to eat you, fight back." ..... WHAT?!? Excuse my ignorance, but how does one decide that a bear has advance from a simple "attack" to "eating" in order to discern when to play dead and when to fight....?!?

 

3. In strolling along a pier of the charming little town of Seward, AK, I had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with one of the many boat owners in the harbor. He and his wife were chilling on the boat deck reading novels and drinking wine. So cute. So I asked if they were planning on going sailing - a simple and innocent question that led to an invitation to step onto their boat and chat. And what followed was an informative and fun and laughter-filled lesson on the art of steering with a "big sailor's wheel." This nice man was a seasoned sailor, from Scotland (accent and all) who found my meager Nebraska-acquired boat knowledge and language quite entertaining. I hadn't ever even considered these wonderful sailors' wheels existing outside of Popeye until this day. haha. :)

4. I have seen a family of puffins!!

John the Scottish sailor letting us man the sailor's wheel

puffins are darling little creatures...