I woke early, just after dawn, to hear raindrops hitting the roof. I took a moment to remember where I was; in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana, at a Unity Campout of the Rain or Shine group from Great Falls.  

    Hurriedly I got dressed and set out for a walk. I wanted to explore a bit. 

It was a beautiful place just a few miles from Monarch, on the banks of Dry Fork of Belt Creek, among tall pines. My eyes were refreshed with a thousand shades of green and golden brown. Wildflowers were sprinkled among the grass. Bird calls greeted the new day. A fine misty rain kissed my face and watered the forest. The creek burbled along beside the road. 

     This was the lush purveyance of life. This was God’s will for the face of the planet– life in abundance, life in a thousand varieties, life in harmony. The Garden of Eden came to mind, and I was there. I was Adam. 

     Suddenly there was at my feet something not green, not alive. The bleached white bones of a dead animal were scattered across the grass at the base of a big pine. They were shocking in their whiteness and their reality. And I was reminded that never, never can any of us go back to the Garden. It’s too far, and God is too fair. Instead we must move through whatever lies ahead, experience the dry desert and bleached white bones. But there still is that gnawing remembrance of a time when everything was very good. Perhaps there is another garden somewhere in the way that lies ahead. 

                                                                              Love, 

                                                                                  Norm

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