FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 146

I’ve gotta be honest: for some reason, my "noodle" just didn’t want to cooperate tonight. I sat down and immediately hit a wall, coming up totally blank on what to be thankful for today.

It’s a bit ridiculous, really, because there are a zillion things on my list. I’m grateful to have awoken alive with air in my lungs; for the privilege of being born in this land of freedom; for food, water, shelter, and clothing. I’m thankful for a wonderful career, my wife of 33 years, three great kids, two fantastic sons-in-law, a grandson, and another grand-baby on the way. And, of course, I’m thankful for y'all giving me the latitude to write a sentence longer than the Apostle Paul’s longest epistle. (I’ve gotta inject a little humor—this is "Just Jason," after all.)

Yet, despite that mountain of blessings, I wasn’t feeling inspired to write about the "usual suspects." Instead, my melon kept drifting toward the beauty of this big, beautiful blue marble we call Earth. Let me explain.

Last night, we were chillin’, getting ready to call it a night. Usually, that’s around 10 PM, but we were channeling our inner teenagers and staying up way past bedtime. I had the remote in my hand—aka "the clicker." (And by the way, if your spouse still calls it a clicker, you know you’re getting old when...) Anyway, squirrel!

I was flipping through YouTube thumbnails when a title about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) caught my eye. It was a "Minnesota Bound" segment discussing the proposed plan to allow copper mining near Ely. Some estimates suggest it could cause significant environmental damage to that million-acre national wilderness.

I spent a couple of summers in the BWCA as a kid and, if you’ve never been, let me tell you: the beauty is stunning. I’ve always been grateful for the lessons I learned there as a teen. Even now, as an "aging adult," I long to return—if only to gaze upon its grandeur. Not that I necessarily want to go on a portage-heavy canoe trip and get devoured by thousands of man-eating mosquitoes again, mind you. But if we could enjoy the sights while keeping our flesh intact? Count me in.

In all seriousness, so much of Minnesota is magnificent, but that northern portion is "God’s country" in my humble opinion. And yet, that area is just a tiny patch on this massive planet.

My family and I have been privileged to live in so many incredible places:

• Downeast Maine

• The Shoshone Mountains of Idaho’s panhandle

• The Caribbean island of Cuba

• Nebraska and Ohio (And don't knock 'em—if you get off the beaten path of I-80, the beauty is waiting there, too!)

And that’s just since I’ve been married. Before then, while serving King and Country on the high seas, I realized just how remarkably gorgeous this blue marble is. Every nation was unique: Egypt, Greece, Spain, Israel, Italy, England, France, the Caribbean, and even our neighbors in Canada. Each has features that are truly beautiful beyond imagination.

Perhaps you’ve been fortunate enough to travel near and far as well. If you have, I bet you’d concur: the Lord our God sure knows how to paint.

Sometimes it’s too easy to let the mundane blind us. We get used to what’s around us and fail to look beneath the surface. But from "the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee," there is so much to see just in these United States alone.

Today, I’m thankful for the ecological diversity our Lord created, giving us a world where we can marvel, live, and play. In 1863, hymnist Folliott Sandford Pierpoint sat upon a hilltop and penned For the Beauty of the Earth. Stanza No. 1 says it best:

"For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth over and around us lies;

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise."

To that, I say: Amen!

What are you thankful for today?