Zion....

 Zion...

We have travelled through some of the canyons and over the plateaus of one route through Colorado and Utah...seen the magnificent red cliffs, the Arches worn by time, viewed the horizons of great mountains, watched the color changes of the sands, the crags for of hidden valleys, discovered (with thousands of others) the spires of the fairyland in Bryce....finally to drive through the tunnel opening into the vistas of Zion National Park...

The other places we mostly looked down or across, but Zion you have to look up...I am sitting outside this early morning awaiting the sunrise, listening to the myriad of birds waking, making themselves known to all, first one call then another...the sky is slowly lighting, the mountains silhouetted against an inky gray, feathery clouds slowly turning deep red....enjoying the cool before the heat of the day...

Everywhere you look here, is up to another mountain, another wonderful view...man could never make such a sight....

When we went to Israel a couple of years ago...”going up” to Jerusalem, “looking up” were key words there as well...

Reading this psalm seemed fitting for today...thank YOU for the beauty you have granted us here, but more for Yourself...

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 

Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 

God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress. 

When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. 

Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. 

You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. 

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever. 

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. 

Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments. 

Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. 

For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

Psalm 48:1-14