Welcome! I am a contemplative thinker and photographer from Colorado. In this blog, you'll discover photographs that I've taken on my hiking and backpacking trips, mostly in the American West. I've paired these with my favorite inspirational and philosophical quotes - literary passages that emphasize the innate spirituality of the natural world. I hope you enjoy them!

If you'd like to purchase photo-quote greeting cards, please go to www.NaturePhoto-QuoteCards.com .


In the Spirit of Wildness,

Stephen Hatch
Fort Collins, Colorado

P.S. There's a label index at the bottom of the blog.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Our longing for God is a participation in God's longing for us.



"A man was crying 'Allah! Allah!' one night.  When a cynic asked if he had ever gotten a response, the man couldn't answer.  Confused, he fell into a depressed sleep.  In a dream, Khidr, the guide of souls, appeared to him within some foliage.  Khidr asked him, 'Why did you stop praising?'  The man answered, 'Because I've never heard anything back!'  Then Khidr enlightened him with these words: 'This longing you express IS the return message.  The grief you cry out from draws you toward union.' "

Jelaluddin Rumi

"Staggering though it is, what I experience as my longing for God is God's longing for me."

Brother David Steindl-Rast,
Benedictine monk

Photo: Shrubby Evening-Primrose arising out of cracked, dry, hard badlands soil; Pawnee Buttes, Weld County, CO; June 10, 2013






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