No one saw it happening at the time. Only now, with the benefit of retrospect, with the hindsight of thousands, perhaps millions of years, can we see the cumulative effects that erosion has had on our earth, our soil, our land. It has taken the form of wind, rain, rivers, rocks tumbling across the landscape. Each object leaving it�s miniscule mark, ineffectual on it�s own. It�s the collective, the synergy of multiple forces. And we go to sleep at night, wake up the next day, not seeing what has happened, what pieces have been lost, what dust has been deposited. The changes are not visible in an instant. We have to look at things in perspective, take a time-lapsed mental snapshot and play it back to ourselves.
The risk of not paying attention to these details, of not remembering, or not recording and being vigilant, is that one day you wake up and it�s all gone. The mountain that once filled our window is reduced to a hill and soon just a bump in the landscape. Or the beauty becomes buried under so much dust and debris that the idea of digging it out again is overwhelming.
And when we notice it is gone, what is our response? Do we respond with alarm and urgency? Or resolve that we must simply adjust to the loss? Do we wait for someone else to jump to the task or do we take responsibility and accountability for recovering what was there? Is the result of nature actually more beautiful than what was there before? Have we lost something in the dirt that once filled Northern Arizona or gained something from the majesty and depth of the Grand Canyon?
Some mornings, I wake up and I don�t know where they�ve gone � my heart, my lust for life, the jewels of my soul, my ability to give and love and trust. Are they buried and I need to dig them out? Or did they get swept away by water and air? They can�t be found until that is determined. They won�t be found by digging where they are not buried, by searching where they have not been scattered. That�s why you have to check for them every day, keep an account of the riches in your life. So that you will notice before they are buried, so that you will find them before they are blown too far from where they belong.
