Red, Red Earth

Today, a beautiful, warm, spring day and also the day before Easter, Joaquin and I searched for the giant cross on the hill that we had seen so many times in passing. We parked on a dirt road that looked semi-close to the peak, and we forged our way through manzanita. At times, we found fragments of  what looked like used to be roads, and at times, we just took what was the least brushy path upward. On our journey upward, we encountered a hummingbird buzzing amidst the dry brittle branches and the flowering manzanita. Its brilliant green was a gym amidst the browns, tans, and yellows of a dry earth. After a brief pause of complete absorption into the magic of the tiny miracle of nature, we continued upward until we reached Brush Mountain Road. It struck me that we were not going to the top of the hill, but a small mountain. We followed the road upward noticing the monarchs and the orange tipped, white butterflies going about their business. Eventually, we came upon an excavated pit, the red earth was laid bare. In its bareness, there was an inexplicable beauty that is unique to things that have been scarred. We could see the layers of earth rising on the sides of the pit, the rich red rising with no egotistical intention. Forever changed, the evidence of resistance lay at our feet, and its brilliance still was magnified in its openness. After exploring a bit, we continued up the road to eventually enter another pit, rocks tumbled and piled, deep earth akin to an imagined Mars landscape. We followed the steep road up to the very top and found ourselves beneath the towering metal cross that we had seen so many times from afar. The views from this peak were amazing. Mount Shasta, Mount Burney were in clear focus, and we could look down upon the Burney Basin and take in the height of our positions. 

On the way up the mountain and in between random conversations with Joaquin, I was able to contemplate the cross. I love the symbolism of the cross. I love the idea of redemption, how love can save us all, and how we can show our love through selflessness. These ideas I celebrate this Easter, and my journey to the cross was a recognition that I and everyone else in this world can be redeemed in love. That may look different for everyone. Some people will seek that in Jesus. Some may seek it in Allah. Some may seek it through altruism. Some may seek it by recognizing their self-worth. I would never claim to know the recipe for anyone’s personal redemption. What is important is that there is redemption, that there exists love in a world fraught with pain and difficulty.  I cannot count the times that I have been saved by love, showing it and receiving it. The pits we traversed seemed appropriate when rising to the cross. I myself have been that pit, rocks strewn about, laid open and vulnerable, and I know that as I continue to be, to forgive, to feel, to love and to stand amidst the love, those wounds are a part of my inexplicable beauty just as that red, red earth.