The space where we find freedom

Viktor Frankl, psychologist and Auschwitz survivor, writes in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

From my own journey with God, I would write that God did not create us as puppets to force us to love Him and glorify Him. He does not compel us to love and forgive each other with patience and kindness and mercy.  Instead, between the actions of others and our response to them, we have the choice, the freedom to love or to reject, to accept or to deny. Or as Richard Rohr would say, in any situation we have the power “to transform the pain or to transmit it.”

Steens_Mt, Kiger_Gorge

Early summer in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of Wallowa County

Meg and I enjoyed two exceptional day hikes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness before and after the Fourth. On Thursday, the third, we hiked six miles into McCully basin and back. The hike itself is through rather dry, scraggly forest.  However, after crossing McCully creek at the five and half mile point, the forest deepens and then opens up into an immense basin surrounded by mountains. Filled with buttercups that are the first flowers to appear after the snow melt, this basin spoke of the eternal seasons that once again, for a short time, present this palette of intense green and yellow.

Then on Saturday, we hiked high into the Eagle Cap basin, following the East Fork of the Lostine river. The trail began normally, moving through tall, stately, dense forest. As we climbed higher, we met some snow patches on the trail. Ultimately, for the last mile and half, the trail was all snow, with just a few patches of trail showing.

The trail opens up into one of the prettiest glacial valleys you will find anywhere in the world. Eagle Cap peak dominates the skyline, with boggy meadows of melting snow, filling up with buttercups. We hiked about twelve miles round trip. Yet the mileage and effort was completely dwarfed by the reviving beauty of this valley.

Entering the Eagle Cap basin

Eagle Cap

McCully basin and Aneroid Peak

Meg enjoying the serenity of McCully basin

waterfall before entering the Eagle Cap basin

East Lostine River and Eagle Cap

Meg hiking into Eagle Cap basin. Eagle Cap in background

Meg hiking past Lost Lake

Meg crossing McCully creek

In His time: Reflections on McCully Basin

Meg and I hiked into McCully basin this July 3rd.  McCully basin is part of the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Wallowa County in the NE corner of Oregon.  It is off the  beaten path even for most backpackers in the Eagle Caps. Very few feet have hiked, very few yes have seen, this basin. It lies underneath the snow for most of the year.  But just after the snow clears, this beautiful meadow is filled with buttercups stretching far off into the distance.

"In His time, in His time.  He makes all things beautiful in His time.  Lord, please show me eery day, as you're teaching me Your way, that You do just what you say, in Your time."  Diane Bell

I am always deeply humbled and awed by God's infinity,  God's eternity.  McCully Basin is just a tiny, tiny slice of the infinite meadows that are blooming now.  I see only one, but God sees, God knows, each one of them.  Just as He sees, just as He knows, each one of us.

Eagle Cap Wilderness

McCully Basin, Eagle Cap Wilderness

The Grande Ronde Valley from above and from below

The Grande Ronde Valley of La Grande, Union County is vast and verdant.  Whether view from above at Indian Rock, or from below, the fields spread out in the colors of early summer farmland.

Cove OR, canola

Canola, Cove OR

Grande_Ronde_Valley

Indian Rock, La Grande

Indian Rock, Grande_Ronde_Valley

Indian_Rock_OR

Grande_Ronde_Valley

Mt Emily

Penstemon, Grande_Ronde_Valley, Indian_Rock_OR

Are we supposed to be "happy" all the time?

Were we really created to be "happy" all the time?  I find I often blind myself to God's reality if I get down or depressed when I feel "my" needs are not being met.

"There is a hard truth to be told: before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck.  I have walked in the early spring through fields that will suck your boots off, a world so wet and woeful it makes you yearn for the return of ice.  But in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created.”  Parker Palmer

Mt Emily Recreation Area, MERA

Strawberry Lake

Zumwalt Prairie, Wallowa Mts

Strawberry Lake and Strawberry Mountain Wilderness

The Strawberry Mountains are the eroded remnants of a volcanic explosion fifteen million years ago. Strawberry Lake is a small glacial lake, not very deep, with transparent water that shows off the bottom and reflects the mountains above. Its evocative name came from an early pioneer who named the creek that flows out of the lake for the abundance of wild strawberries that grew in the area. The lake is about a mile and half hike from the campground at the end of the road.  Beyond the lake, Strawberry Falls cascades down from a height of eighty feet.

This area lies in Grant County, Oregon, about half an hour from the town of Prairie City. The Strawberry Mountain Wilderness is relatively small--70,000 acres, but the pines and firs are deep and the beauty intense.

Strawberry_Lake

Strawberry_Falls

Strawberry_Lake

Strawberry_Lake

Strawberry_Falls

Strawberry_Falls

Strawberry_Lake

Strawberry_Lake

Troop 514 at Strawberry Lake

Strawberry Lake sits in a basin surrounded by colorful, eroded andesite, a mile and half from the trailhead into the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. Five Scouts from BSA Troop 514 in La Grande just spent a delightful weekend there.  Four of the scouts were young and new, carrying packs that challenged their stamina and energy. Yet, they remained cheerful. They worked quickly and efficiently to pitch their tents. They played in the water, and then we hiked up to Strawberry Falls.  They cooked a one pot meal of couscous and chicken on a one burner stove, and in the morning made up blue berry pancakes.

Their enthusiasm for working together and for learning new skills was excellent.  I think I am becoming younger on each outing!  

Troop 514, Strawberry Falls