Sanctuary.....Starbuck and I started out up the infamous Daniel's Hill to go toward the Crystal Mill. I told Jon that we were just going to hike down to some spot on the Crystal River and just sit and enjoy. However, as sometimes I tend to do, another direction "called my name." Or maybe it was just plain old curiosity. So Starbuck and I took off climbing and scrambling through a little brush. I saw a rock that was actually part of a cliff face that looked stable. So I decided to see if indeed it was stable. Stable is important when at the edge of the cliff.
Just behind the rock ledge almost growing out of it was a scrubby Colorado juniper. I thought it best to tie Starbuck there so that in her excitement she would not decide to pull us both over the ledge. I carefully found a place to sit on this rock. Starbuck was sitting behind me. The small branches of the juniper were framing me as if they were embracing me. The sun was warm on my face. The mountains across from my perch were covered in fresh snow. The river was traveling its path through the bend and into the gorge below, singing that soothing song that moving water sings. I could smell the evergreen of the juniper and I was at peace.
The moment became holy. I believe that in that moment a bit of the veil between me and eternity was lifted. I felt at one with my surroundings and more importantly, at one with my Creator. I could not utter words even in prayer that would break the sacredness of that moment. I just breathed and I just sat. I felt a very gentle breeze stir and in that moment, I felt as if the breeze was the finger of God caressing my face. On that rock, over a cliff, embraced by evergreen branches, I found sanctuary and discovered His Holiness in a moment in which I was still and I was quiet.  "Be still and know that I am God." the Psalmist