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Topic: Confused (08/16/07)
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TITLE: Rising on Vision Mesa | Previous Challenge Entry
By Richard Adams
08/16/07 -
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The last day of Elk season we sat down near a clearing at the crown of an alpine meadow; we overlooked a glassy pond near the edge of a stand of massive Blue Spruce.
It was nearing sundown when we first heard the leaves rustling around us then felt a slight tingle as a warm upslope breeze ruffled my eye lashes. To the Southwest, the sunset was starting to look like an expensive postcard. Brilliant red and gold clouds illuminated the sky as the ball of fire began to settle down along the jagged edge of the saw-toothed mountain silhouette. Wispy clouds above my head resembled huge feathers; darting streams of light and shadow playing against the darkening sky. It was simply the most dramatic sunset I have ever seen.
Just then we heard a twig snap as two small deer cautiously stepped away from the tree line toward the shimmering pond, they were about fifty yards away. It was getting darker and hard to see very far off. Then a larger silhouette came forward and we were almost positive it was a doe and two fawns. We were sitting out in the open as we watched the sunset but they didn’t seem to notice us as they began to play and run around the meadow; they started coming right toward us. As we watched them playing in the tall grass something caught our attention, an unbelievable light show was happening all around us!
The sunset was now a burning fire of deep reds and purples with just the top of the sun above the skyline but the mountain tops of the Saw Tooth Range were shimmering silver/white because there was a brilliant light coming from behind us. Back to the East we saw the full moon rising over snowy peaks that were a vivid reddish-orange; reflecting the colors cast by the sunset!
Rays of silvery blue moonlight stretched across the sky toward the fiery glow of the sunset and each would overcome the other as they fought for dominance. The moon seemed huge and clearly visible in every detail. Moon struck, we didn’t realize the three deer had moved up the slope and were standing right in front of us. We sat on the slope with our legs crossed like Indians, our rifles across our laps, watching them watch us. We were so close we could see the reflection of the sunset in their eyes; we could have touched them.
The battle of celestial lights ragged on behind us and before us, but we were paralyzed by astonishment. They were two doe and a four point Western Whitetail buck! I had heard they were in the White River Mountains but had never seen one; we usually hunted “Mullies.” Our Arapahoe and Shoshone friends had told us “tribal yarns” of their medicine powers and spiritual importance to the Native Americans; and they were standing right in front of us. The little red buck blinked and the three bounded off and up the hill never looking back; it was over as quickly as it had begun. The moon had risen and the sun was fully set. Everything seemed to be back to normal but I was somehow changed by it all.
I felt as if my father was standing right next to me, focused and intent on the moment at hand, and an unspoken but profound truth came over me. I didn’t hear any words but I understood something had happened in this “vision” that would change my life forever.
It was thirty years ago that I heard words without a voice and knew the answers to questions I had not yet asked. Now I realize it as an overwhelming acceptance of my own humility in the presence of Pure Majesty and there was no way around it, I had touched Heaven and God had whispered my name! He had used the elements of Earth that I looked to as gods to show me how much greater He Is! I felt as if I was lifting up off the ground, rising, and in some ways that sensation has remained with me.
It’s a much different life I have now. That night symbolizes the setting of my old life and the rising of a new one that’s filled with divine relationships that bring me to an intimate spiritual life with the Maker of Life. Step by step He brings me closer since my dawning on Vision Mesa.
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Did this take place in Arizona? We live on a mesa and there is a White River within two hours of us, I think on the Apache Reservation? I could picture a lot of what you wrote because it sounds so familiar.
Great descriptive writing! Loved it!!!!