I rounded out 2012 by spending it with my family in Livingston, Montana and ringing in 2013 under the Big Sky. The landscape in Montana is mighty different from the landscape in the Northeast.
This New Year’s Day I drove down to the lagoon at Sacajawea Park as the sun was setting. While standing by the statue, “At the Yellowstone,” named so because that is where the Corps rested and watered their horses after crossing through the Bridger Mountains earlier that day (July 15, 1806), I was awe-struck while pondering the reality of life over two hundred years ago. Sacajawea is the Shoshone young woman who joined the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Montana is very cold in the winter. Most of time I’m indoors but still dressed in layers of winter garments. I’m never very far from the heater. For trips outside in frigid conditions I’ve got on a hat, a wool scarf, my Land’s End Buckskin gloves and usually, my daughter’s Bog’s boots (warm, waterproof and comfortable).
I can only imagine how cold it was for the travelers on the Lewis and Clark expedition. It reminds me how brave Sacajawea must have been to travel by horseback with the band of soldiers and the warmth of a campfire at night.
One way I can honor Sacajawea and other’s before us who braved hurdles and challenges that led to a better life is to step out of my comfort zone.
After leaving the lagoon at Sacajawea Park I drove up the road a smidge, parked, and got out and walked alongside the Yellowstone River. In the silence with only the sound of the rushing waters lapping over rocks and flowing downstream, I let the experience fill me. Breathing in deeply even in twenty-five degree weather was invigorating. I then exhaled and let go of my cares.
As I walked back to the warmth of my daughter Nicole’s Jeep that I was driving, I felt encouraged. As I begin writing a new story on my empty slate all will surely not be peaches and cream. But whatever 2013 drops into my lap I know that God will grant me what I need to brave the hurdles and challenges.
Happy New Year! May it be your best year yet too!
