berries, cherries and bears, oh my

“Haven’t you ever thought of living
unconsciously like bears, sniffing the earth,
close to pears and the mossy dark,
far from human voices and fire?
Nâzım Hikmet Ran

(a mama bear and her cub perch high in the wild cherry trees / Julie Cook / Cades Cove, TN / 2018)

Some folks would say it’s the sign of an impending cold winter…
What with the numbers of bears we’ve seen in just a two-day span, gorging themselves
on berries and apparently the prolific wild cherries that grow plentiful in the
Smokey Mountains.

Twelve bears and counting.

An amazing feat really given that we’ve been coming to this area on and off now for 35
years and have seen maybe a total of 5 bears over the course of that time—
and those were just at a glance here or there.

Today we ran into 5 more bears with one almost literally running into me.
We were actually walking through a field along the woodline, walking away from one of
the few remaining original cabins in Cades Cove when my husband turned to say something to me
yet he could only muster that single word again, BEAR!!

I turned just in time to see a small black bear right behind me before he kindly bolted
into the woods.

Next, as we were exiting out of the cove we saw a mom and cub perched high in the wild
cherry trees enjoying a late brunch.

Then later in the evening, on one final drive through the cove,
we came upon another young bear eating fast and furiously…

(all bears seen in Cades Cove / Julie Cook / 2018)

Not knowing when I’ll make it back this way, as it’s been about 5 years since our last trip,
I savor these moments.
Breathing in deeply, holding it as long as possible before slowly exhaling.

These snippets, these glimpses of things that are truly greater than our hurly-burly
hectic ant-like lives…
lives spent hurrying here and there as we always seem oh so preoccupied and
tremendously busy…I consider these moments, these gifts of time, one of the
greatest privileges offered.

Being able to see animals in their natural habitat, in a place that is stopped in time,
doing what they do best…simply living and being the wild animals that they are…
is a gift…a gift offered by the Creator to one of the created…

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him
and for him.
Colossians 1:16

honor

And when they had come into the house,
they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,
and fell down and worshiped Him.
(Matthew 2:11)

(6th century mosaic of the Magi / the New Basilica of St. Apollinaris / Ravenna, Italy)

To whom and to what is honor placed…?
where goes esteem, recognition, respect?

The word honor as a noun dates to the 12th century and
to the 13th century as a verb.

Distinction,
tribute,
glorification,
privilege,
adoration,
praise.

It has been both earned as well as bestowed.

It sets apart one from both the ordinary and the average.

It denotes special,
It becomes recognition,
It is to venerate,
It is to worship
and it is to heap praise.

It is to set above.

Entertainers, politicians, leaders and athletes each receive accolades and honors galore.

And yet what of our Creator…

What of the author of all that was, all that is and all that is to come?

That unseen entity that is quickly forgotten and flippantly relegated to the periphery of consciousness?

We dishonor God most deeply when we give honor to people and receive honor from them.
We should give each other love, not honor.
All honor belongs to God alone in Christ.
Eberhard Arnold.

Truly an earth shattering thought….

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under
the earth and on the sea, and all things in them,
I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,
be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Revelation 5:13