The Prairies

Wes had to visit a job site in Brandon on Sunday and I came along for the ride. Although I am an urban girl, there's something that happens to me once I get out of the city and begin ridin' down the highway. I somehow feel freed of some of the responsibilities, anxieties and burdens that come with my life in Winnipeg. Don't get me wrong. I have a great life here and I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. But hitting the highway and just going is a great feeling.

I was reminded of when I first moved to Winnipeg almost 26 years ago. I had moved from S. Ontario-the Niagara Peninsula with its lush vegetation, mountain (it is actaully the Niagara escarpment-we just called it a mountain), orchards, vineyards and hilly and winding roads. The prairies seemed so flat and uninteresting to me. When autumn came, people commented on the beautiful fall colours. Everything looked yellow to me.

Today, I am grateful to say that I love the prairies. Driving to Brandon we saw the bright yellow canola ripening in the fields; the wheat which still looked green but which will soon be maturing to a beautiful warm golden colour; flax, still green but one day blue; the straight rows of potatoes near Carberry.

And the sky. There is nothing like a prairie sky. On Sunday, clouds mostly covered the sky-pure white cumulus; dark, heavy rain clouds-purple, grey, black; bright, clear blue sky and various wispy clouds. It was awesome. The prairie sky is huge. There is nothing to obstruct your view (except for grain silos, grain elevators, barns and farm houses) so that it is visible until it meets the land on the horizon. Driving home we were witness to another gorgeous prairie sunset and if you looked a little to the south, you could see the moon rising as the sun was setting.

I have come to appreciate and love the prairies. They have a beauty all their own. When I go to visit my folks in Beamsville, I enjoy the very different beauty of the Niagara Penninsula but I am always happy to return to my beloved prairies. There's something about the space and the vastness of the prairies that touches my spirit and "grounds" me. I look at this beauty and I see God. In my mind, this kind of beauty could not have occurred without a Creator orchestrating it all.

"So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky". And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

And God saw all that he had made and it was very good."

Genesis 1:7,8,31