"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost

This week has been a travel week for me. After spending a
few days in Grand Marais,Minnesota, I am now
in Asheville,North Carolina for a few days. I am here for
a gathering of people who are interested in Creation Spirituality and the work
of Matthew Fox, theologian and author of such books as Original Blessing and
others. The conference is made up of an eclectic group of people with many
diverse ways of seeing the Holy in their lives. Through art, music, poetry,
story, and ritual we are learning and sharing with one another. It has been a
rich few days.

 In the midst of this gathering what has been a constant
source of inspiration are the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround me. In the morning this rich mountain range is cloaked in fog and
the mist of daybreak. The blue haze that appears to cover the tops of the
mountains touches the sky, explaining to my eyes what its name signals: the
blue of the mountains blends directly into the blue of the sky. There is a
comfort in being enfolded in the protective cocoon of these mighty peaks. Their
quiet power brings a sense of safety and a feeling of awe.  Waking up this morning, I thought it was
raining, but the sound floating in my window was really the sound of the early
dew falling through the trees.

 It is always good to have a change of scenery. I recognize
fully the privilege of this ability to travel, to see how others live, how the land they love shapes them. The gift of seeing the power and majesty of Lake Superior
and the languid, flowering richness of the Smoky Mountains in one week is more than gift. I know this and do not take it for granted.
Allowing the round, flat sounds of speech in northern Minnesota sink into me one day and opening up to the slow, musical speech of these Carolina voices in the
same week, has my aural senses swimming. I am listening to my native language
with an attentiveness that does not come on ‘normal’ days.

 However, a change of
scenery can come without ever leaving the place we call home. Perhaps it is a
state of mind, an intention, to open ourselves to the ways in which others see
the world. We don’t need the privilege and blessing of travel to help us have a
‘change of heart-scenery.’ This gift is as close as our ability to go out of
our well worn paths to see with new eyes, hear in new ways, shed our
preconceived notions about a person, rid ourselves of what we hold to ‘true’.
When we allow ourselves this kind of change of scenery, it is almost a forgone
conclusion that something wonderful will happen. Most likely we will be opened
to a part of ourselves we didn’t know existed or had been forgotten long ago, stuffed in
the back of the closet to gather moth holes.

Moth holes? 
Mountains? The choice is ours to make.