A few weeks ago I was watching several episodes of the Ken Burns documentary “The National Parks.”  The series is impressive to me both for its visuals and its narrative.

In the first episode John Muir is much quoted and toward the end of the episode the following is related,

“The tendency nowadays to wander in wilderness is delightful to see.  Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity, and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers but as fountains of life.”  (also found in The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, edited by Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns, p 55)

Muir leaves little doubt to me where he connected and reconnected with the source of life and energy and probably hope.

” … going to the mountains is going home … are … fountains of life.”

That got me asking what awakes that much passion in me.  Where is the “home” that is a “fountain of life” for me?

What “wildness” nourishes me?  Could I change the wording and ask “What holiness nourishes me” without totally distorting Muir’s experience?

Here’s a challenge for today.  Name the last three “places” that evoked this kind of passion and connection to the “fountain of life” for you.

Don’t limit your thinking to what you think might be the right answer, but relax into the challenge and go back over the last days, weeks or maybe months and look for the times you have been brought near the “fountain of life.”

And enjoy the discovery.