Bill leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear: "Do you know what we just did?" Attended one of God's greatest symphonies of creation - in the key of wonder? How does one reflect upon the beauty of Iceland!   Rugged.  Mysterious. Sacred. Unspoilt land. Unvarnished people.

          Destination point for the excursion was the Northern Lights, a display of color against the heavens' black night palette, caused by a collision of solar particles wind-swept into a pool of atmospheric oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen. The Aurora Borealis. The lights performed with exquisite beauty for us. Then, just when we thought we had seen the grand finale, there appeared a sash of green light wrapped around the earth from the Northeast horizon to the Southwest horizon, as if God securely wrapped this world-gift with love.

          Not to be outdone, the geysers appeared on the daytime stage in regular performances about every five minutes. The boiling water, pure issue from earth's heart, no longer able to contain itself, exploded with force stronger than anything else, high to the sky. Perhaps my most memorable moment of the excursion was when, standing near the boiling pit when the geyser exploded, I looked up to see the dazzling particles of steam reflecting the sunlight as they softly sprinkled over me. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil," as Gerard Manly Hopkins wrote.

          Nature in Iceland continues to tell the creation stories of God's wisdom, beauty, and truth, much like the revered Norse sagas that "tend to wander, go down long tangents, circle back the long way, and then eventually present a central story of sorts."* I believe that the central story of creation is beauty. Iceland is the stage.

                                                         --by Jan

* http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102534.The_Sagas_of_Icelanders