Lessons from the National Parks
6 Jul 2016 • Blog Post
The National Parks celebrate their 100th birthday this year. Over the years, speakers at BYU have drawn lessons from these natural sanctuaries. Read some of the best:
A Quiet Sacred Space
Each of us needs to find a sacred place. . . . We each need to find a place that we will associate with God’s tender mercies.
Your sacred place may be located on the BYU campus, perhaps at the base of the Carillon Tower. It may be up Rock Canyon or near Aspen Grove. As stated by John Muir [a conservationist who helped preserve Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks]: “In our best times everything turns into religion, all the world seems a church and the mountains altars” (Mountaineering Essays [Salt Lake City: Peregrine Books, 1984], p. 19). (Scott W. Cameron, “The Seasons of His Mercy”)
A View that Recenters Us on God
A friend and I arrived at [Grand Teton National Park] in the late afternoon. As we drove along the park road to get closer to those majestic peaks, we noticed an area where we could pull off and read signs telling us the names and geologic history of the mountains. As we stood outside the car, drinking in the beauty of the scene, a van pulled off the road and parked beside our car, and a couple probably in their early forties got out to admire the mountains, too.
I noticed that the license plate on their van indicated they were from one of the flat midwestern states, and I thought perhaps the mountains would be especially awe-inspiring to them. As I turned to go back to the car, I noticed in the rear of their van two teenaged boys—presumably the sons of this couple—seated with their backs to the Grand Tetons and showing absolutely no interest in looking at them. . . .
As I drove away from this family, I thought that many of us often behave in the way these boys did: There are inspiring things our Father in Heaven wants to show us and wonderful experiences He wants to give us, yet we are so absorbed in trivial, worldly interests that we sometimes turn our backs to the thrilling views of eternity that are available if we would only lift up our eyes and see. (Kristine Hansen, “Lift Up Thine Eyes to the Mountains”)
Photo Credit: fortherock
A Strength Found Together
The giant redwood trees in northern California give us a powerful image of how we can strengthen each other. These gigantic trees have very shallow root systems. But when they are surrounded by other redwood trees, the strongest, fiercest wind cannot blow them over. The roots of the giant redwood trees intertwine and strengthen each other, and when a storm comes, they actually hold each other up. (Patricia P. Pinegar, “Building Up the Kingdom of God”)
