The Bigger Picture

Have you ever considered your place in the universe? Have you ever wondered what you're doing in your own town, your own state, your own country? Or what you're doing on this spinning blue marble in the middle of the sparkling blackness? What are you doing here?

When I look at pictures like these; when I swim in the ocean; when I hike in the mountains; when I look in my daughter's eyes - I sometimes feel small. Sometimes the beauty overwhelms me and I feel insignificant... powerless. I wonder at my place on this planet - and I loose myself in the stars. Do you feel that way too? I'm not sure it would make me feel better or worse to know that you did.

But there was this day. A single day. A day I will never forget. A day I joined with the Universe and became One with all Creation. It changed my life.

I was rafting down the Green River. It had been several days; it was hot and sweaty work. The river split, and the rafts decided to take a quick trip up and around. We could stay with the boats or float down the river ourselves. Everyone went with the boats. Everyone, but me. I stayed; and I floated.

I lay down in the arms of the cool river and I floated. I let my mind wander and drift with the current. I watched the warm blue sky float by. I watched the red rock move passed me as if of its own accord - as if I were laying on the banks and the world was moving around me. I was the center of it all. I was completely weightless. And for a moment, just one perfect moment, I lost site of my own body. It was as if my body and the river joined.

The smaller rivers that came from the mountains and joined this river; this river that led to the ocean, and the ocean that fed the clouds, and the clouds that fed the rivers from the mountains. Everything was connected, and I was part of it all. For that moment my mind joined with something greater - something as enormous as the universe and as small as my soul. But I knew that I mattered. I knew that I was a piece of something amazing and miraculous.

I hope you get the chance to see something bigger than you are. Don't get lost in it - enjoy it. See it for what it is - a chance to understand your place in the big picture. Even if you only see your place in our own town, it makes a difference. You can make a difference.