Protected By Nature-Mountain Post #2

By -
Wildflowers in Clingman's Dome

We are continuing our series entitled, Mountain Post.  This inspiring series are life lessons learned while visiting the Smoky Mountains.  If you missed the first part of this series here it is:


Observation Tower-Clingman's Dome
Today's hike took us to Clingman's Dome. It is the highest point in Tennessee and a favorite tourist destination spot in the Smoky Mountains. We drove up to a 6,500 feet elevation. Your ears pop as you drive along the winding road. The weather changes drastically. We left our cabin and the temperature was a sunny 86 degrees. By the time we made it to Clingman's Dome it was 61 degrees.  The outside conditions  were raining, foggy, windy and cold. A bad storm was blowing through but we still climbed by foot to the observation tower to see the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee. 

The greatest feeling from our hike was the realization that everything in the Smoky Mountain National Park is protected. The vegetation, foliage, animals, even the annoying insects that fly around you constantly. I want to complain about those nagging bugs (that somehow elude my deep woods bug spray). But the park rangers reminds me how ALL living life is precious. I've learned that we are ALL responsible to make our world more sustainable. 

As you hike through the forest you can see the effects of years of abuse by people. People wanting to make money off the land instead of living in harmony with the land. 

Which one are you? Do you live to protect all living species? 

We protect our World for our children!
Maybe you just live for today without thinking about the consequences of not recycling or polluting the air with smoke. We are all needed to protect nature. 

The very first settlers here, the Cherokee Indians, lived to be in harmony with the land. As I leave the Smoky Mountains I want achieve a lifelong goal-protecting nature. I want to see the dance of the hummingbird, as I did today, for years to come. The hummingbird moves so quickly to collect it's nectar.  It is a rare sight at the top of the Smokies. The place where the clouds touch Earth. 

Small choices today lead to big rewards tomorrow. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! We enjoy reading each comment. Stay inspired!

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 5 Tips To Stay Fit Without a Gym!

By -
Image
It's Fun Friday and I'm sharing some great workout tips.  Fortunately I've never struggled with working out (it's the good eating that always throws me for a loop).  I've always enjoyed going to the gym. So you can imagine when I moved to my rural community I was stressed with the fact that there wasn't a gym nearby.  Needless to say, I had to get creative on staying fit.  My business travel schedule, community and church obligations didn't make finding time to work out any easier.  I realized that my creative juices would have to flow on a alternative way to stay fit.  Here are some of my fun, no gym needed workouts: Walk/run intervals through the neighborhood Cardiovascular exercise is the foundation of most of my work- outs.  The light posts in my neighborhood provide a great way to walk & run in equal distance from the back to the front of the subdivision.  I will normally walk, jog, or sprint in intervals between each light post. Jump
Read more

Take A Lesson From Ants

By -
Image
I walked into my house and a portion of my floor was covered with little, black ants.  I instantly knew the kids had dropped some sticky substance on the tile floor. That mess attracted what looked like an entire nest of these little, pesky insects.  They were all moving around in unison enjoying what was probably going to be their lunch or dinner. Ironically on Sunday, a dear friend gave me a wonderful scripture about the lesson we can learn from ants.  Really, I thought, how can I possibly learn anything from something that annoys me so much.  I guess you know where I'm going with this.  There is a lesson to learn from ants about efficiency and productivity.   The ants didn't waste any time moving into action to retrieve whatever mess my boys left on the floor.  Not only that, they called all of their "ant" friends to help them in this insurmountable task. Are you a slacker?  Do you like to procrastinate?  Do you constantly have the attitude, "I'll ju
Read more

I Am Raising America's Most Hated...

By -
Image
BEWARE:  This is not your normal blog post It is not easy raising children.  But raising one of our country's most hated members of society brings more complication into the equation.  Let me clarify for you...raising a black male in America IS scary.  The world easily looks at color on a male as a deterrent to any intellectual ability.  Most men of color are viewed with the ability to only perform one thing - entertainment.  It could be a stand up comedian, singer, runner, actor, football or basketball player. Black males, unfortunately, only see the world through limited lenses.  Other races, ethnicities and gender can view the world with a vast amount of opportunities, but not if you are a black male.  You walk into a room or a packed elevator and people grab their handbags.  You walk next to their car and they lock their doors.  It's the overwhelming amount of negative images that have plagued and are fed into mainstream homes via our tv, social media and newspapers.
Read more