Snorkeling Through the Sludge

I've never been snorkeling and I doubt that I will ever do so in my lifetime - at least not the snorkeling we all are familiar with in the ocean, but I've come to the conclusion that I have done a lot of snorkeling in my lifetime - just a different kind. As I head down off the hill each morning and look down at the pollution winding along the freeway through Utah County, I realize that I'm about to go snorkeling through the sludge. One day this week I may get a picture of it, but it's too dark when I leave and too dark when I come back up the hill at the end of the day to illustrate my point.
I have been thinking about this snorkeling business a lot lately. Sometimes there's a lot of sludge in our lives and I have done a lot of swimming about, trying to find a spot of beauty in a tough world lately. I've waded through tons of dirty dishes during my career as a mom and housewife - I've gagged through mounds of dirty diapers and waded through far too many loads of dirty laundry. That's snorkeling through sludge. I've usually found my little spots of beauty, however, to keep me floating and motivated.

Today I walked across campus and it was a beautiful day although very chilly - not like Iowa or Ohio, but deceptively chilly nonetheless. I realized that I was right in the midst of the sludge I saw earlier in the morning. Looking upward, the sky was a vivid blue but looking in the distance, it was obvious that the polluted air was all around us. It's called "haze" or "inversion" or whatever you want to call it to make yourself feel better about living in it - but it's sludge. I guess there could be a good analogy made with this - sin is like this. If we can clearly see it we shrink from it but little by little, if we begin to accept it, we don't even realize that we're participating in sinful acts. Let's take TV or movies, for instance. We watch a show, find it funny and continue to watch it without realizing that we're hooked on garbage. We invite filthy language, suggestive acts and thoughts, and oftentimes very violent content in our homes thinking that this won't affect us. Stick around for awhile and I think we would be able to see the desensitivism (is that a word?) that has occurred.

You get the point, I'm sure. Well, a few years ago I made it a goal to try to find something different in my drive to work that I hadn't seen the day before. It becomes a boring drive every day when I don't try to find something interesting. As I started to walk, I took on that same goal and I've found some pretty amazing things in this world. So for a while, I will share a few of my little surprises and why I think this is the fun of snorkeling. I look for the beautiful and the more I look, the more I find and realize that there could never be such a beautiful world with such order and creations without that great Creator that we know about.

Enjoy my adventures.

My very favorite photo - who wouldn't want to live here?!?

I was late to work because I stopped five times to get different shots of the fog and the beautiful morning. (Spanish Fork Canyon)

Salem Pond on a cool day.

A piece of sculpture on campus.

My secret garden on campus.

A milkweed - I have discovered that seed pods are far more interesting than the flower. I am amazed by the order there is in this plant to direct the seed pod in such a way that it can float and spread itself around. I love this photo!

Another seed pod - taken in Adam's back yard.

A beautiful staircase on campus.

One of many gorgeous sunsets we have had this year.