More Living Columnists

• Dolores Sanchez Badillo: The view from the fenceline
• Mary Penner: Learning about your past is an awesome journey
• Steve Brewer: Goofy fads can hold fond memories for families

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

America's notable philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once wrote, "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." No words are more precise when applied to the journey of building a life of character.

Our family annually makes a a trek to the Gold Country in northern California where we spend a week amid the lofty pines of the Sierras. For me a favorite vacation past time is a short mile walk I take on Old Strawberry Road. Once the primary logging road in the area, the paved road is now clustered with cabins that are within listening distance of the Stanislaus River.

I love to walk amidst the spruce, douglas and noble firs. But mostly, as the mild, late-afternoon breeze blows through the corridors and alleys of the forest, my favorite experience is to listen to the sacred voice of the forest, the redwoods, whispering their noble message of steady continuity.

Amid fallen, infested timber the cyclical rebirth of the forest is revealed as the baby redwoods are bathed with sunlight that reaches the forest floor to guide a sapling's journey upward. Many of the old redwood guardians, some well-over 80 years old, have fire scars somewhere on their bark. They have endured, fought, and pushed as they have pursued nature's demanding ways.

It is impossible to view the growth of these Redwood Guardians on a day by day basis. You must view them through the eyeglass of time to witness their courageous life. They are not in a hurry to succeed.

Daily, their pursuit (if such a word applies to these noble creatures) is to live, as nature called them, in the steady unfoldment of their destiny as kings of the forest.

While on my special walk as I eavesdrop on nature, I rekindle the remembrance of nature's way for we mortals. A life of noble purpose, shaped by the light of our personal life values, is never in a hurry to succeed. Our nobility is found in the steady course of practicing enlightened values which bring beauty, structure, continuity and respect to the human experience.