Editorial January 23, 1989 Issue

Taking time to catch glimpses of God's great love

William E. Moody

I read a story not long ago about a man who lived in a remote valley among the mountains. His life was peacefully and quietly tuned to the beauty of the wilderness that surrounded him. He had come to feel it was essential that he should always make time to see something of the vast richness of the land and water and sky, and to listen carefully to the sounds of nature's orchestra.

"One day," as the story goes, "a traveler stopped at the man's house. The traveler was breathless and perspiring as he asked for directions to the next town. As soon as the mountaineer told him which road to take, the fellow was off at a dead run. The mountaineer called after him, 'What's your hurry, Mister? You are going to run by more than you will ever catch.'"^{Bishop Ernest A. Fitzgerald, "How's Your Hearing?" Piedmont Airlines, July 1988, p. 11 .}

The lesson in this for me wasn't that the way to find ultimate happiness, contentment, and meaning in life is for all of us to build simple cabins back in the woods somewhere and then spend the rest of our lives in quiet contemplation of nature. It's too apparent how much remains to be accomplished in the world, how much healing is needed.

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