Into the Past

Every time we climb Stone Mountain I am caught up in the personal carvings etched in its surface. My family visited Georgia quite often, as I was growing up. We had dear friends in North Georgia, and my Dad loved to take road trips. I remember hiking up the mountain, hopping from name to name, imagining those long ago hikers. My fascination hasn't waned, and I'm always left behind, looking at one more name, one more date, as the kids wander ahead, eager for the top.

Think of it! What the Atlanta skyline must have looked like, back in 1899... And what this pair of climbers would have been wearing... if one was a woman, did she have a parasol? Laced-up leather boots? Were they visitors, or Georgians? Do their descendants live here still, and take their own children to see these markings from great-great-grand-daddy?

Even earlier, this rock was a special place for the Native Americans of the area, which takes the imagination to whole new heights. How many centuries did they visit it, worship on it, and never leave a mark?

Of course I squealed when I saw this couple's mark, proclaiming their love into infinity... Projected into the future, hopeful and happy-hearted, that's what I think of this one. A bubbly young couple, passionate and energetic, this Greg and Mary Ann.

To believe in infinity, it is a stretch of the mind. Almost inhuman, we are so bound by time. Only when a love has that certain quality does infinity call to the heart. Burn in the soul as if to say

I knew you before time. I knew you in humanity, and I will know you again as we move to, through and from God... I have seen you before, I will see you again...

A breath of infinity, a glimpse of a rock, sprouting up and steadfast in the soil. That's a thought for a Saturday, no? Happy weekend...