I recently spent 3 weekdays at our cabin, Shalom, at Emma Lake. It was a wonderful, restful 3 days. The Tuesday was especially spectacular. My only regret was that I did not have a camera with me, so as to share what we saw with others.

The lake was perfectly calm – all day – dawn to dusk! There were a few fluffy clouds in the sky. The reflection in the lake was so perfect that the dock appeared to be a double decker! We could not distinguish where the supports met the water – they appeared as one continuous piece. Looking down on the lake at the water's edge was looking down into a deep valley of clouds! I almost felt dizzy at times looking down at it! The ducks that swam by did not disturb this stillness for very long. The waves they made barely made it to shore.

I could not get enough of this marvelous beauty. I just had to continually look back at it from whatever I was doing. I didn't get much of anything else done! Just gazing at the reflections, at their perfection was "work" enough! My only wish was that more people could have shared this with me. It was truly a moment of encounter with God in stillness and beauty. The occasional blue jay, chickadee or woodpecker only added color and movement to a perfect scene.

The memory of this perfect Tuesday remained with me throughout the following days, and remains with me even now to brighten these fall days which are in themselves quite memorable.

Once again, God has shown me that his gifts are surprising and infinite.