Wapiti Wilderness

So, I've just finished reading an excellent book, "Wapiti Wilderness," by Olaus and Margaret Murie ("Wapiti" is a Cree word referring to elk). It seemed that the theme of the whole book was beauty in the natural world. Here are some selections which really stuck out to me:

"Now, by the alchemy of moonlight, all was transformed into a soft duotone of black and silver. The tiny meadow lay silver bright, overlaid with a dark tracery of moon shadows from the pines. Over the forest floor about our tent lay the same network of shadowy limbs and twigs, while in the deeper woods a few gleams penetrated in scattered flecks that silvered the underbrush. We scarcely broke the silence with speech.
"'It bothers me,' I ventured. 'I cannot grasp it all. I want to do something with it, but don't know what. It is this tiny little ache, with all the beauty, that stirs me.'
"I felt stupid at my own trite words. Who has not already said as much? An old, old yearning, this. But the fervent assent of my companion proved this yearning to be ever fresh.
"We walked on in silence across the silver meadow to our camp."

"I do think that if a man plans a career that is to take him into the wilderness, he should bear this in mind when getting acquainted with young women; if he could happen to fall in love with one who was harmonious with the out-of-doors, it would be a fortunate situation."

"I know that when I have stood in Nature's domain, rapt in wonder, in the presence of some manifestation of her charm, perhaps a sunset, a mighty unfolding of mountain ranges to the horizon, or the soft hooting of an owl in the dusk, at such times I have had my greatest peace. At such times I can harbor no ill will toward my fellow man. I do not understand it. But I feel it is God-given."


"Soon we were all outdoors, gazing on this perfect Christmas scene, and we had our cameras, for there is always this urge to 'do something.'"

"We were driving up the valley north of town one evening later in the fall, a group of us going to dinner at the Turner's Triangle X Ranch. The landscape had reached that special stage of autumn hue with pale gold grass, maroon of willows, and the variegated reds and browns and old rose on the foothills over toward Sheep Mountain. The sun, lowering over the Tetons, cast a smoldering intensity over the pattern. It almost made us gasp. Fortunately no one spoke, but I wanted to reach out to the driver and say: 'Stop! I want all that! I want to do something about it. I can't get enough just looking at it like this!'"

Throughout the book, Olaus references this "urge to do something" with the beauty he sees around him, but he can never quite figure out what exactly to do other than stand in awe.

I know this feeling. I am led to worship God when it comes over me. Looking around and seeing the immense beauty of the world, I am reminded of the One Who created it all by His own imagination and creative power, and wonder how beautiful He must be.

When we stand before God in heaven, I feel we also will be unable to do anything but stand in awe of His beauty.

On a less poetic note, this book made me all the more want to move out West. Actually traveling to Jackson Hole this past summer, the setting of "Wapiti Wilderness," cemented this desire, and the books I've been reading lately have only made it worse, haha. The Rockies...I can hardly explain what they did to me. Part of me also looks to Portland, Oregon. One of my dear friends, and somewhat of a mentor, lives there with his family, and he's asked me to come do ministry there with them. Of course, I would love to. I hope to move somewhere in that direction within three years from now, maybe sooner if possible. Right now, though, it's just a matter of what God has in store for me while I'm still in Lansing.

Peace.