A Song of Praise

I am so glad I didn't cancel our ski trip yesterday because of reports of patches of black ice and frigid conditions. The roads were completely clear, and the snow was the best snow I may have ever skied on. It was real snow, which is rare in NC. Usually we are skiing on manmade snow which is icy and hard to ski on. I have heard that if you can ski on NC mountains, you can ski anything!

We always ski the twilight session, which means 12 pm-10pm. After dinner, all the wimps go home, and very few people are on the slopes. So picture this: Orion and a billion other stars in the sky, no one on the chair lift as I go to the top of the mountain, perfect fluffy snow, the valley lights twinkling far below me, and a wide open expanse of slope with NO ONE IN SIGHT. I skied down making huge effortless sweeps across the slope, so relaxed and in tune with the snow and the cosmos that I forgot to consider technique or be afraid, and flowed as one with the mountain. (I know...sounds like I am on drugs, but I am not...just really in synch with the beauty around me).

It occurred to me that the more relaxed I was, and the more willing I was to go fast and not brake continually, the more subtle my movements were that made me ski almost effortlessly. I only had to think "curve to the left" and I was curving to the left. Everything became unconscious, automatic, easy.

This is what it is like to be so consumed with joy and being, that I wonder why I ever thought it was hard. This is what it is like to be so overcome by God, and the glorious blessings of His world that every breath is an act of worship. Nothing feels forced or even considered. It becomes a part of existence, as impossible to separate from self as to pull a finger off one's hand. If only all life could be lived on this plane, with this level of awareness.

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Psalm 40: 3,8
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."