Continuing The Journey

By: Contributor Last Updated: September 13, 2010

Written by Father Michael

The cool weather has refreshed me in a number of ways. Mainly it has put me back on my bike and the Calumet Trail. I enjoy riding without dodging cars and the trail offers that possibility. Late summer brings the addition of a dry trail bordered by yellow sunflowers, reds, purple, blue wild flowers, cattails, and elderberries. Butterflies are dancing from flower to flower. At sunset the deer stare at you with a look of wonderment. What are you? The South Shore speeding by does not startle them.

The loop around Beverly Shores offers the opportunity to exert myself pedaling over and through dune neighborhoods and then a stop along the beach for a stretch of the legs. An array of kites of all shapes, designs, and colors sail easily over head. Colorful canvases of the catamarans windsurfers, the white sails of boats, the noise of the jet skis and water skiers, and the faint outline of Chicago in the distance all assail the senses. A bride in billowing white dress, with her flower girl and groom walk down the dune to the beach for that Kodak moment as the sun sets on their special day.

The nine miles from Mineral Springs Road to Mount Baldy is a challenge a good part of the year. It is a gravel pot-holed path with pools of water. The Prairie-Duneland Trail between Hobart and Chesterton is a paved paradise in comparison. They are so close but so far apart. I snap pictures as I go. Some are good but they are challenging also. I list some of the flowers above and quickly realized that I had no idea the name of the flowers. The ruby red one, the posh purple one, the bright blue one were the only names I could come up with. The docents at the Nature Center can expect a visit as I try to identify my flower pictures.

There are many roads that we take. Each of us has our own journey to travel. Each of us encounters different landscapes, different people, different animals, flowers. We will interact differently. We are unique and that is how God make us. But all our roads end and hopefully that end will be with God. Our journey is the journey home to God.

We can chose to see the beauty around us or speed right by it like the South Shore that is ignored by the deer. God gives us creation to help us see His love. Next to this screen that I key in these words I have a brass disk that is etched with the story of creation from Genesis. Around the edge in German is Im anfang schuf Gott himmel and erde und Er sah, dass is gut war. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and he said that is very good.

We are His creation and God says we are good. Do you say you are good? There are days we cry out: “why”? The why is very simple. We are here to reflect the love of God, to be God’s image and likeness, to give love. That is what our journey is all about. Enjoy it with God.