Smoky Mountain Memories

We just returned from a fabulous vacation in the mountains.  It wasn’t to some fancy resort, or 5 star hotel though….it was a camping trip!  Yes, we slept in a tent.  We do every year!  I have been going to this same campground nearly every summer my entire life.  I learned how to ride my bike in that campground after my Dad and Granddaddy tricked me and raised my training wheels off the ground when I wasn’t looking.  Boy was I mad, LOL!  I’ve skinned my knees, climbed trees, tubed down the Little Pigeon River, seen bears, snakes, coyotes, skunks, deer and bugs of every shape and sort.  I’ve probably camped in nearly every campsite in the place in my life time.  I’ve fished, hiked trails, walked through the Ghost Town, and walked down the camp road in pitch black to see the most amazing light show of synchronous fireflies on the planet!  I’ve huddled under tarps while it thundered so loud and rained so hard that it felt like we were actually IN the midst of the storm clouds.  I know the smell of that place by heart.  It’s indescribably fantastic.  Pine needles, camp fires, the smell of rain in the air, sunshine on fallen leaves, green moss, black dirt, pure, cold water,  mountain laurel blooming and marshmallows.  It’s hard to say what is my favorite time of day there.  The mornings are so crisp, even in the summer and full of the smell of eggs and bacon and coffee.  The birds sing the sun up every morning with every ounce of strength they have.  It’s like they believe it won’t rise without them singing it up.  I think it’s how they worship and thank God for the new day, and they do it will all their hearts!  The afternoons are lazy, and warm, and filled with happy laughter and children squealing as they tube down the creek.  The evenings are filled with wonderful campfire smells and delicious food cooking.  The sound of Hoot Owls, bull frogs, crickets, the rushing water of the creek, and mountain music loft through the air.  There are no phones.  There’s no cell tower close enough to get a signal.  No TV.  No Internet.  No electricity.  Just people, the ones we love the most, to spend time with, play with, talk with, or just sit and listen to the sounds of the forest with.  When I’m there in that campground I remember my Granddaddy’s hugs, my Grandmother’s laughter, and the Hartman Brother’s cowboy songs.  This is as close to heaven as I can imagine.  We get so busy in our modern world.  So caught up in our man-made mess, that we forget the wonderful things God put on this planet for us!  Why did God give birds a song to sing?  Why did he paint beautiful, iridescent wings on butterflies?  Why did he make pine trees smell so good?  Why did he give us cool, refreshing water to drink and to play in?  Why did he make fireflies glow in the dark?  He could have made this world dull, and gray, and boring….but instead He was thinking of us.  He thought, “how much my children will love the colors in this rainbow and just wait til they see the sunset I’ve painted tonight!  I think they will love the smell of pine trees, and these flowers…..they won’t be able to resist the lovely smell!”  I feel closer to God in those mountains than anywhere on earth because all I have to do is look around to see what He has created for me….just to make me smile.