Gift #1131: Lessons among Ruins

I had no idea that my last blog post was way back in May!  Time just seems to fly.  I spent most of June in my beloved home of Colorado.  I went out for a week for a conference for work and then stayed an additional two weeks dreaming in the mountains, wandering by streams, marveling over gardens, and exploring museums.  And eating my favorite foods… can’t forget that.  My mom and I made good use of every single moment and visited old favorites as well as searched out new places to experience.  As usual, I come back with my heart full of all we were blessed to do and grateful that we could spend time again at home.  It feels each time I go that I have never left and in many ways, my heart doesn’t.  Pine forests, columbines, prairie dogs, and aspen trees still enchant me and the roots of the mountains grow deep in my heart.  I usually use a song to summarize each Colorado trip and I knew right away when I visited a mountain park what would inspire my choice.

One of our favorite places to hike is Mount Falcon.  And I do believe it is the most beautiful park that we frequent.  There are breathtaking views, meadows filled with wildflowers and grasses, forests scented with pine, rocky outcroppings, and moss-covered tree stumps.  This park has it all… and it has castle ruins.  The ruins are a special place to me and awake all sorts of thoughts within me as I gaze at the falling walls of stone and admire butterflies flitting about where rooms once stood.  It has a feeling of sacredness to it – a man and his family lived and loved there till tragedy struck.  It’s a place of buried dreams yes, but also a place where ashes turned to beauty.  Though the house burned, and all that’s left is rocks and walls, the man who lived here laid foundations of the park system that preserves large portions of the mountains for the public to enjoy.  Seeing the remains of his home always makes me consider what will last when we’re gone and what is worth spending our lives on.  It’s haunting and unsettling to see wildflowers and grasses growing where a kitchen was and realizing that so much of what we work for will fall to decay and ruin.  But we can also leave legacies that last for generations and that can impact more people that we can possibly imagine.

This place reminds me of the book of Ecclesiastes, a fascinating book of the Bible written by King Solomon.  It is a discourse on life from a man who had the world at his disposal and found out what is worth keeping in light of eternity.  Many songs by one of my favorite musicians, Sting, echo these same thoughts.  Haunting lyrics of decayed cities and ancient longings stir my heart and I’ve loved this song ever since I first heard it as part of an IMAX film while living in Denver.

A stone’s throw from Jerusalem
I walked a lonely mile in the moonlight
And though a million stars were shining
My heart was lost on a distant planet
That whirls around the April moon
Whirling in an arc of sadness
I’m lost without you. I’m lost without you
Though all my kingdoms turn to sand
And fall into the sea
I’m mad about you. I’m mad about you

And from the dark secluded valleys
I heard the ancient songs of sadness
But every step I thought of you
Every footstep only you
And every star a grain of sand
The leavings of a dried up ocean
Tell me, how much longer? How much longer?

They say a city in the desert lies
The vanity of an ancient king
But the city lies in broken pieces
Where the wind howls and the vultures sing
These are the works of man
This is the sum of our ambition
It would make a prison of my life
If you became another’s wife
With every prison blown to dust
My enemies walk free
I’m mad about you. I’m mad about you

And I have never in my life
Felt more alone than I do now
Although I claim dominions over all I see
It means nothing to me
There are no victories
In all our histories, without love

A stone’s throw from Jerusalem
I walked a lonely mile in the moonlight
And though a million stars were shining
My heart was lost on a distant planet
That whirls around the April moon
Whirling in an arc of sadness
I’m lost without you. I’m lost without you
And though you hold the keys to ruin
Of everything I see
With every prison blown to dust,
My enemies walk free
Though all my kingdoms turn to sand
And fall into the sea
I’m mad about you. I’m mad about you

The song, and being among the ruins at Mount Falcon, are a reminder to me of what we take into eternity.  That’s where the focus of our lives should be to make them count.  Though we gain the world or lose everything, we are never lost when God’s love enfolds us.  He can create something beautiful from the ruins of our lives and can cause us to leave a legacy of love and grace that will echo on this earth long after our footsteps cease.

Blessings to you,

Sarah