Now that I’m back in my own bed and the jet lag is history, I can relive our Ireland trip with the hundreds of pictures I took and the memories we made. We saw remarkable things and experienced so much it is impossible to talk about it all. I think over the next few days, I’ll share little bits of our trip so you can see what I mean.
We booked a tour to the Cliffs of Moher, a stunning place on the west coast of Ireland. Getting there meant driving in a cushy bus all the way from Dublin (which is on the east coast) across the middle of Ireland to the west coast. It was about a three hour drive each way, but definitely worth it just for the joy of watching the countryside roll by. I loved how beautiful country estates – modern and impeccable – stood next to ruins of castles, towers, churches and estates hundreds of years old. It’s such a cliché to talk about how green it is in Ireland, but, in fact, it is. The hue of the grass of the Irish country side is a deep, nearly neon green that defies description.
The Cliffs didn’t disappoint, either. Over a thousand feet high, standing not-so-close to the edge and looking out made my heart pound. The surf below endlessly pounds and swirls. Sometimes we could hear something almost like thunder echo as waves collided with the rocks far below. In some places, the wind captured the sea spray before racing up the face of the cliffs and splashing it in a fine mist on us far above. At first we though it was rain, but the saltiness on my lips convinced me otherwise.
Standing in awe, I was once again astounded by God’s vivid creativity. If you look really hard at one of my pictures, you can see people standing atop the cliff. Tiny, tiny humans in contrast to the tall, imposing cliffs that are, in fact, only a weak monument of the strength and power of our God. I’m humbled as I picture God’s hand forming these precipices carefully and intentionally, and I’m reassured that His care for the scenery of this world speaks so clearly about the depth of His love for the people He placed here and called His.
