Purple Mountain Majesty

By the title you have most likely guessed that this entry will be about running in the mountains, you may have even have guessed I was in Colorado, with that gues you would be correct.

I've done many postings about running in Colorado Springs so as you know every time I am there I am once again overwhelmed by the beauty of the breaking dawn.

On this morning the temperature was a mild 38 degrees, perfect temperature for shorts and long sleeves.  The week before the temperatures were very cold and there was a lot of snow and so there was ice on the roads and the sidewalks.  In the dark I had to be careful not to slip.

On my way back the sun was rising, the red like fire brimming over the plains as the lights of the city begin to dim.  But it's not the sun coming up over the plains that is the most beautiful.  On the opposite horizon are the mountains and this is where the beauty overtakes me, each and every time.  The mountains are jagged and with the sun shining on them they turn from dark to purple to yellow to red and finally settle into the browns and greens that make the terrain of the mountain.  It's hard to continue running when the beauty grabs your heart.  And so I stop, breathe in the crisp dry air, and take in the scene.  I imagine what it was like to the pioneers coming across the plains as the sun rose and lit the mountains with  purple.  Purple Mountain Majesty that is all the description needed.

I know that it's typical to forget to look at your surroundings as you are there all the time and it becomes common.  I mentioned to someone at the office that the sunrise was fantastic and the response was "Yeah, I see it all the time "purple mountain majesty".  I was a little confused by the comment.  It sounded cavalier and it ocurred to me that we all forget look at the beauty in our lives.  It's there in front of us, all around us, in the people we know and don't know, in the world God made for us, in everything we do, and yet it becomes common. 

In this next year let's all remember to look at the beauty that surrounds us and choose to enjoy what God has given us to enjoy.  Life will be better for us is we only dwell in the beauty.