What Leaves Us Weak in the Knees

I was formulating a mental facebook update, as we headed up the half-mile trail to Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park where my two-year-old, who was so excited to be out of the backpack, was leading the way. I was so impressed by her I was thinking statuses like, "This one's not just a trooper, this girl's a leader," just to offer a snippet of something unique that even I was discovering about this beautiful child.

However, that was the last mental status I cared to formulate the rest of our two-and-a half week vacation.

We caught up to the two youngest running ahead and my husband led us to Mesa Arch, in which we discovered, without warning or barrier, had a 1,200 foot drop immediately through the arch. We peered down, caught our breath, and then quickly ushered the children away from the arch.

Boy, was I put in my place.

I felt squeamish throughout my body. I immediately had a new respect, not just for nature, but for life...every last bit of God's creation that I suddenly felt we, too easily, take for granted.

After a quick photo with the children in front of the arch, then ushering them back down the trail with grandma and grandpa, I snatched the camera from my husband and turned back.

I snapped a few more shots, yet I couldn't grasp the height, depth and width, that I so terribly wanted to capture, of the awesome landscape with my DSLR camera.

And as I stood there alone with strangers, I couldn't help but imagine a scene with my little ones innocently running and playing in the open area in front of the arch, not realizing what was so near.

And I wonder how often we play life out close to that cliff without a true reverence and respect for the natural consequences of an extraordinary creation put into motion by an extraordinary Creator. How often is "living on the edge" pure ignorance?

And how often is letting our children prematurely navigate the way hazardous? 

Because we should live life with enough fear to recognize how small we really are and vast our Creator is.

I stood there and thanked God for the precious children he has blessed us with, for their lives and for their safety. Gratitude seemed the best and only way to grasp all of the extraordinary. 

Then I took another breath and caught up with the crew, whose wonder cannot possibly be captured in a sentence or photograph, half way down the trail.

And that overwhelming feeling stuck with me through the rest of our vacation.

Because it's what we can't create with our own fingers that leaves us weak in the knees and humbled by the life we've been appointed.

To view more of our seventeen day trip to ten national parks, click here.

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Sharing with Imperfect Prose, Women Living Well, We Are That Family, Getting Down With Jesus, Life in Bloom, and Beholding Glory