A Weekend Among The Hills

My family and I retreated to the mountains this weekend. We ate good food. Drank good wine. Played a lot of bananagrams. Watched sports. Walked. Rode Horses. Snuggled. Said ridiculous things like: “For all he knows, we're the pope.” Or “Mom! You’re in your IPOD on EVERY pic.” Or my fave, “I feel so stupid. I'm reading a book that is written in first person dog. And he just used a word I don't know.” But nothing about this weekend was more special to me than this:

We met up in Charlottesville and drove up skyline drive. Every season God made is beautiful. But folks, God painted an absolute masterpiece when he created the Shenandoah Valley in the middle of fall. We stopped almost every ten minutes to pull over and take pictures. Unfortunately, true to any awe-inspiring work of the Creator, pictures cannot do it justice.

I think fall is my favorite season. Not because it’s when I have my birthday. Not because of pumpkin everything, fall drinks at Starbucks, the start of college basketball season, getting to pull out my countless hats, scarves, and coats. And not because of Thanksgiving or the start of Christmas season. I think it’s my favorite season because to me, it paints a picture of God completing a work that He has started. When I look out at hill upon hill upon hill of brilliant color, I hear God saying:

“You were just a small seed. All you had to offer was a morsel of faith. But I have nurtured you, pruned you, and grown you up into something strong and secure. And now, I am going to use you to paint the most beautiful landscape imaginable. It will be a symbol of the work of my hands and its UNMATCHED beauty.”

Maybe they are just trees.

Maybe they are just almost dead trees.

But to me they symbolize the pinnacle of what they were created to be.

And they illustrate God's all-encompassing beauty.

"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all of the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD."

Psalm 27:4

Here are a few pictures: