Our greatest gift to ourselves is the gift of being present to our life, to show up in every moment. When I enter a rough patch in life, I seek refuge in my illusions and magical thinking that ignores who I am, where I am, and my resources to “fight the good fight.” My myopic perspective ignores the here and there, the near and far. For example, we occasionally have problems with Koko, our Motorhome on the road. If it is something minor, then I may ignore it, magically thinking that it will go away because I do not want to deal with it at the moment. This avoidance seldom works out very well because when it finally becomes a more significant problem, it will occur at a less opportune time! But in the last year, I have been gifted with many beautiful horizons that have invited me to stretch my vision to the horizon and beyond. Here are a few of those horizons and the whispers they offered to my soul. They have all helped me see the wisdom of staying present to myself and the world around me.

This horizon appeared as we walked through Lincoln Memorial Garden outside Springfield, IL. We had been on the road for eight months and spent a week exploring all things Abraham Lincoln in his hometown. I was growing weary in mind, body, and soul. We saved this small park for our last day in Springfield. The trails were beautifully curated forest landscapes, including this little cove on the end of the lake, looking back toward the city. The reflections in the water enhanced the day’s beauty as the clouds drifted slowly across an azure sky. Ducks and songbirds surrounded us, along with the sweet aroma of the forest. I took all this into my soul. I traced the thin line of hills at the horizon and revisited the pleasant memories of the city hidden from view. The magic of horizons is that they offer us both the seen and the unseen in one moment. What we see may be beautiful, but remembering pleasant memories can be more soul-sustaining. This horizon was a feast for the eyes and the mind and nourishing for the soul as well.

This image is from the hills of Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. This parched landscape teems with life and offers elegant testimony to the adaptability and ingenuity of life itself. This place is no Dead Sea. The hills support a flora that has found a way to thrive on the salt-laden rocks laced with thin soil—every crevice shelters moisture from the abundant sunshine. Life survives in these small oases and supports the fauna of the island. Large herds of bison graze on the grasslands and hillsides. Rabbits, mice, and lizards skitter through the landscape, where Burrowing Owls and other birds of prey hunt them down. The island is a rich and varied landscape that supports a wealth of life.

But life is not limited to the land. The waters beyond the shoreline are also teeming with life. They are too salty to support fish, but they support a wide variety of bacteria and algae that colonize the shore, painting it with a rainbow of hues. These microscopic colonies support a large insect community that swarms over the water. These huge swarms attract large numbers of Gulls and Terns who feast on the abundance of food at the water’s edge. Pelicans gather here in large numbers, feasting off the surrounding wetlands and finding safety for their young on the barren islands scattered throughout the area. When I raised my gaze to the far horizon, I saw the Wasatch Mountains, where life has found a home in alpine meadows and valleys. Turning in another direction, I saw the Oquirrh Mountains, where life has taken hold among deep winter snows and blistering hot Summers. Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Foxes, and other creatures make these mountains their home. Life on the Great Salt Lake and in the surrounding mountains demonstrates that it survives and thrives with a diverse abundance! Horizons help us see beyond our near-sighted biases and embrace the impossibilities of life in the undiscovered lands beyond our imaginations!

This image is from the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Bodega Bay along the Central California Coast. This image captures two mystical, thin places in creation, where the water meets the shore and the vast stretch of an ocean horizon. In the foreground, we discover the complexity of life. Wildflowers of varying hues live among the brilliantly colored Ice Plants. But life is a struggle on these rocky cliffs. Native wildflowers battle the invasive Ice Plant. They fight for a foothold in this unstable ground as the weather and active seismic activity drag everything to the edge. The Sea Stacks just offshore speak of land that has already been lost, but even here, life has found a foothold as a nesting place for birds and nurseries for seals. The near ground of this image speaks to the complexity of life as it struggles to maintain its footing on a creation that will ultimately yield to the chaos of nature, but not yet! This foreground is a magical place indeed!

The distant horizon is no less magical. The simple thin line between the sea and sky contains the realm of deep imagination. Every generation of shore-bound people has sat at a place like this and imagined what lies beyond. For some, it was the chaos of the edge of creation that, once reached, would lead to a fall into the abyss of time and space. For others, it represented unknown lands where they could build new lives. Every mind has had its imaginative journey over that line and dreamed of the possibilities. It inspires, terrifies, and instills hope, beckoning us to reach beyond our familiar shore to glimpse what lies beyond. The deep magic of this horizon is that it invites us to hope in the unknown, believing that life abounds on distant shores as it does on our own.

During our 2024 stay in West Memphis, we were fortunate to have an RV site that was steps away from “that Old Man River.” The foreground is lost in shadow, but the horizon is on fire with the glory of a Southern Sunset. And in between lay a piece of history, both human and natural, that drains 41% of the lower contiguous United States before entering the Gulf of Mexico far to the South. But horizons are not just about geography; they are also about time, and this shot offers a glimpse of a horizon in time that awaits all carried in its currents. Each of us continuously flows into a new moment, night or day! We live on that thin line called “now” that sits between “yesterday” and “tomorrow.” But, like a river, time has a direction, and sometimes we must trust the “river.” It has been flowing for a long time and has found a path over the “snags” and log jams. Roll on, Big River, Roll On! The horizon awaits us all in the glory of a brilliant sunset.

This image is from a Whale Watch out of Ventura Harbor in the Channel Islands off the California Coast. The vastness of the Pacific stretches to the distant horizon. This horizon is a limitless wonder where these massive beasties find joy in the currents of life. At their best, our horizons are sources of joy as we imagine life out there. But imagining is not enough. These whales spend the summer in the Bering Straits of Alaska, feeding and finding mates. They then swim 3,000 miles to the Hawaiian Archipelago, where they bear and raise their young before returning each Spring. In the vastness of life, we cannot simply sit and enjoy. The horizon invites us to live our lives fully. Its presence demands that we push our horizons regularly to claim the abundance life offers for our hearts and minds!

I am a child of the Texas Hill Country. My earliest memories include the rocky limestone hills covered with Juniper and Live Oaks. But this place, Enchanted Rock, is a powerful place that fills my soul and lifts my eyes to the horizons of life! This rocky prominence outside of Fredericksburg is one of the oldest rocks in the world. It rose above the surrounding hills 1.1 billion years ago. I have climbed on, fallen on, sat on, and pondered life on this magical pink granite dome throughout my 71 years. From this trail, it dominates the horizon. But, from its peak, the Hill Country reaches into forever in all directions. Life exists on its summit, where seasonal ponds sustain weathered juniper trees. These trees hold onto life in the cracks and crevices. Yet, the star is the rock itself. It speaks to the far horizons of time from its creation to the moment it will be absorbed back into the earth itself. Standing here allows time to stop, and I take in the universe’s depth, breadth, and width. Here, I rediscover that the rock and I are temporary sojourners. We live, move, and have our being between the near and far of life.

I hope always to be aware of the world around me, from within my reach to the distant horizons, from the ever-present now to the farthest reaches of yesterday and tomorrow. All that we have been, or ever will be, exists between those horizons. These horizons offer us the gift if we have the wisdom to unwrap them here and now!

Travel well, my friends,

Bob