The Walk........We arrived back in Marble yesterday afternoon. This morning as I was having my quiet time and trying to get my head and heart around our family's loss, out of our front window I caught a glimpse of two critters running full speed through the spruce trees in front of our house. They were either quite large foxes in their winter coats or coyotes doing whatever coyotes or foxes do. Yes indeed I was back in Marble.

Later in the morning as the sun rose above the mountains I took Starbuck for a walk. The walk was as much for me as it was for her. I needed the solice of our mountain village. I needed its remoteness.

The sky was our brilliant winter blue clear and vast. The sun reflected off the snow revealing the crystalline snowflakes in a dazzling display of bright light. There was the sound of my footsteps crunching in the snow and a bird here and there and the sound of the creek's running water. It was Nature's sound, nature's music.

At Beaver Lake I saw the snow packed mountains in the distance and knew that I had hiked between them and up to the Yule Pass (11,700 ft) in the summer. I wondered what their winter would reveal if only you could get to them. Avalanche danger keeps you from them in the winter.

Then we ran into her. We have a very young lady in our community that walks her little dog every moring. We often run into her or walk with her as we walk Starbuck. She is one of God's masterpieces, sweet, somewhat vulnerable and always kind. She asked me if we had been out of town. I told her that we had returned home to bury our niece. I felt the grief rise just a little but still had control. Then she said, "I am so sorry, what was her name?" The question caught me off guard, I swallowed hard and responded," her name was Megan."

The tears came out of nowhere and I could not stop their flow. She immediately took off her sunglasses (we have to wear them to prevent snow blindness) and wrapped me in her tiny little arms. When she released me for some unfathomable reason I apologized for crying. She immediately hugged me again saying only that she was so very sorry.

Once I returned home I sat on my back deck soaking in the sun as if it was God's Light warming me. And then it dawned on me. She had become Jesus to me. Her arms were the arms of Jesus. Her words were His words. After all if Jesus lives within us do we not act with His hands, His arms, His words if we are sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit?

Yes, Megan was her name.......Megan is her name.......

"Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29