Yet why, in our day-to-day lives, do we seem to lack such connection? Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.” He is not wrong. John Muir put it this way: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Simply being in nature filled us with a sense of energy, connection, and oneness. This gave us serene moments of floating bliss as we gazed out at the snow-covered peaks and valleys around us. Even better, we were actually staying in the higher altitude town of Mountain Village, which meant we took a glass-enclosed gondola ride down into Telluride itself each day. Despite being late May, we were greeted in Telluride by a blanket of fresh snow, only to have the next day provide a brilliant blue sky and warming temperatures, which combined for an awe-inspiring (and not that cold) setting. Sweeping vistas out the windows of the rugged stone and wood home we stayed in took one’s breath away. I just returned home from a long weekend in Telluride, Colorado. I couldn’t believe the difference in how I felt getting to my desk each day that simply a change of location had provided. Once we moved into our new shared office space in the backyard shed, my wife and I were both so grateful to have a clean, bright, open space in which to work, with views of large bookshelves, our new shed furniture, and windows onto trees and fields. The lack of sufficient space in which to work was taking a mental toll of which I was only vaguely aware. Before this, my office was a desk tucked away in the corner of my bedroom-meaning I had minimal space for books, papers or any sort of organization. On the inside we painted the walls a light gray, put in white trim and a row of large white bookshelves, with lots of windows for natural light. The outside looks much the same as it did previously, decade after decade. It is an old small barn from the 1800’s that my wife found on Craigslist, that we, along with a lot of help from friends, dismantled and reconstructed in our backyard. The spaces and places we spend our time in matter.

Sitting in my new backyard office shed, I hear the birds chirping around me and look out over the misty flower fields out my window, and I feel a sense of peace. Article by Bryan Berghoef, June 2019 eNews

Pub Theology by Bryan Berghoef