the search

Hi folks,

Amidst the ads around this time of year to buy, buy and buy more, we are inundated with pressure to find and receive the "perfect" gift. Sometimes it's a good idea to silence those voices by surrounding yourself in a time you will remember in the beauty of God's creation.
Richard Foster in "Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth", suggests that getting closer to creation, and enjoying things we don’t possess or control, such as natural areas, are two important ways to pursue simplicity.

I just stumbled across this really amazing link provided by the National Wildlife Federation called Nature Find: "Get Outdoors Wherever You Are."

http://www.nwf.org/naturefind/

Just type in your zip code, specify a radius of "x" miles, and it takes you to all the nearby natural areas appearing on a clickable map. (You may have to zoom in a fair bit on the map to space them out). From national parks, to state parks, to tiny 2 acre local non-profit preserves, you can find someplace to get outdoors near you that you may never have heard of.

Here's to getting outside!