For the parson and caretaker couple, this week has found our minds and hearts drawn heavenward by thoughts of members of our human family visiting the moon. (A phrase unimaginable for all but the last half-century of our species’ existence on Earth.) Here in the woods, we often find our attention drawn upward, by the inspiring presence of the great pines. Poets and artists have long described old groves as cathedral-like, although the magnificent columns of ancient forests long predate the first human cathedrals. When we toured parts of Europe some years ago, mainly to visit Kathy’s ancestral homelands in Poland and Germany, my one request as a tag-along was to travel to Cologne, there to view the majesty, soak up the history, and breathe in the air of that grand edifice. It is the largest cathedral in Europe and survived–mostly–the bombings of World War 2. It took six centuries to build (1248–1880) and anything that human beings devote 600 years to creating, especially out of an aspiring vision of approaching divinity, is worth a visit. It did not disappoint, and I was moved by the experience.

On returning home I once again, with fresh eyes, appreciated the soaring columns of our own small ‘church.’ They have the same effect, ultimately, of casting our earthly obsessions upward, toward inspiration and the highest elements of human longings. Although, to be fair and honest, looking down at a perfect blooming bloodroot or trillium can have the same effect. As Thoreau said so well, “Heaven is much under our feet as over our heads.’

Yes. But the trillium and bloodroot are not yet blooming in the woods. And the bird choir is returning. As did our moon-journeying astronauts. So these days find us often looking upward. Where the pines arch against the endless sky.

Such is the news from the Church O’ The Pines, whence we wish you Good Sabbath.

(This is my newest Substack post. You can follow/support me there at ‘Notes From The Campfire@douglaswoodauthor.’ https://substack.com/@douglaswoodauthor)