Mountain Landscape

A. Unabashed Pacifist:
The peace of God passes all understanding, but that doesn't mean we only try to understand war.

B. Unabashed Christian:
Holy One,
Other landscapes have their charm and appeal - the beach views of the ocean's rhythmic waves and vast expanse, theprairie broad and so flat as to make any height stand out, the flowing river to rmeind of change, movement, journey. But my soul takes delight especially in mountain splendor, the way sun and cloud and sky play upon these majestic heights. No human art can do justice to their glory.
Amen

PS: Ugly buildings against a mountain backdrop - what were they thinking??

C. Unquoting Jesus:
"Personally, I put my faith in a free market economy."
[Yeah, that'll be the day.]

D. Blog: Smog
I used to enjoy places like High Knob in Gambrill State Park (MD), for there, high up the hill (or mountain), on sunny days I could gaze for miles. A bird’s eye view, except in colors of blues and greens and browns, with occasional whites of farms and buildings, villages and water towers.
Now, unless it’s a sunny day after a good rain, the view only depresses me, as it must depress many other people, who stay away in droves. If all the additional whites were not enough, the white hazy air makes me crazy. What sort of perspective can I gain when all I see is this smoky haze? Fog on the mountain is bad enough, as if God were limiting access to the divine. When it’s smog on the mountain, that seems worse still, as if we choose to see with cataracts in front of our eyes.
And when we avoid the heights because we know the hazy and limited vision will bring us to despair? That is surely a choice to pretend the problem doesn’t exist, to avoid seeing the eye doctor, to decide the cure is worse than the disease. Repentance is no longer in our vocabulary. Nor is hubris. Too bad.