I drove east out of the city under grey skies, drizzle and traffic on every side.  As I got further out and further East, the traffic became less, and I pressed on.   Three lanes of backed-up traffic were on their way in as I went by the other way, thinking thankful thoughts that my morning commute is opposite the daily jams.

As I swept out of the city limits and through the bedroom communities that shoulder the metro area, street lights stopped bordering the road and eventually a lane was dropped.  The drizzle, while still present, seemed to trigger other introspective thoughts, and I turned off the CD of music and just watched the landscape change. Morning mist greeted me, rising off the river, fog veiled the Gorge as I began to pass under rising bluffs of stone and evergreen/mixed forests; it was like driving into a new day.  The city behind me, I began to be more freely, and I felt the tension in my shoulders relax and my senses become more alert as I went on further, leaving  more signs of civilization behind.

All this in a short 30 minute drive to work.  Thank you, God, for places of rest, peace, and renewal, may even my workplace, a haven for others, be also a haven for me.

Amen.