The Tyranny of Distance

I turned on the TV just briefly the other day to catch the middle of a program on PBS. All I got was that it was a program about the US military doing humanitarian work for the people in the Mohave Desert (with the hopes of befriending them and gaining information from them about potential terrorists moving through the area).

The cinematography was stunning. The initial picture that came up was of this solitary mud hut with maybe 5 people standing in and around it. The hut was engulfed in the lower frame by desert and in the top by an almost cloudless sky. The military official interviewed spoke about the "tyranny distance" in that place--the fact that people are so isolated that part of what the military brings is not only glasses and other needed supplies, but some kind of contact from elsewhere to confirm that elsewhere does exist.

I heard someone say that when they visited Texas, they thought surely the sun would touch the ground. I thought maybe they were talking about the fact that there are more hours of daylight in Texas than Washington during the winter months. But thinking on it now, though Texas is dotted with large cities and innumerable ranches in between, it is mostly flat. There is not a lot to break up the scenery, so it does appear (especially in the Coastal Plains near my home) that the sun will literally touch the ground.

I personally have always loved the mountains and now I wonder if part of that love comes from the fact that glorious mountains break up the scenery...glorious mountains dispel the tyranny of distance by drawing our gaze upward. When I look at the mountains, I can't help but think of God.

I do enjoy going back home and seeing those Coastal Plains--they remind me that somewhere out there where the sky and the ground meet, is someone else, some place else where people live and breath, have joys and sorrows just like you and me.

But for now, I will take the mountains that point my gaze to the God who gives breath and life...to the God who lives in our joys and carries us through our sorrows.

Journey on...