A tunnel may conjure up images of a car being swallowed up by a black hole. Once inside, the hum of the car tires traveling over asphalt echoes off the claustrophobic walls and the lights streaming by make it seem like you're the bouncing ball in a fast-moving video game.
Not that I have all that much experience with those kinds of tunnels living on a farm in Central Kansas. But I do love another kind of tunnel - what I call "tree tunnels."
It's one of my favorite things about summertime. Along a country road, a blanket of vivid green envelops me, kind of like a child being tucked into a tight cocoon of blankets at night.
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge has even labeled one of its tree tunnels. I need to go back and take photos at different times of the day to see how the light shifts and changes. These photos were taken in the evening, following a trip to check our Rattlesnake pasture.
But it doesn't have to have a brown-and-white label to create an overarching canopy of green and texture floating over a secluded country road.
One of my favorite parts of going to the Rattlesnake is seeing how the branches and leaves perform a ballet of light and shadow, a show for which I get a free, front-row seat.
And it's always new - from hour to hour and from season to season.
The sun was slowly saying goodbye to the day as we rode 4-wheelers across the Ninnescah River bridge. After a recent rain, Randy was checking to make sure the fence wire was still in place to keep the cattle where they were supposed to be.
As we again crossed the bridge to take the 4-wheelers back to the trailer, I glanced to my left and saw the sun playing hide and seek through the canopy of century-old trees. It was worth a detour to the cool, light-dappled path under the arms of the cottonwoods and elms.
FYI: HDR treatment on the photo
A few nights later, I was at our school's middle school and high school music concert. One of the songs sung by the 5th and 6th graders, Carriers of the Light by Jerry Estes, reminded me of that quiet scene.
I can get caught up in the daily to-do lists. Words can pierce the soul, many times unintentionally. Attitudes can falter in the crush of a life lived full-speed ahead. But I should be a carrier of Light instead of darkness.
Here are the words to the song. They resonate with me as graduates prepare to walk across high school and college stages this weekend. I should develop this kind of tunnel vision:
We are ignited, we are ablaze,
Burning with the fire of life.
We have invited you to this place,
To step into the circle of light.
Refrain:
We are carriers of the light,
Come to shatter the darkness.
We have power to pierce the night,
Carriers of the light.
Standing together shining our light,
There is no stopping us now.
Chasing the shadows into the night,
Overcoming darkness and doubt.
For when it touches you
When it sets you aglow,
The spark within your heart
will light the flame in your soul!
In case you'd like to listen, here's a children's choir rendition from YouTube. It might as well be stuck in your head, too!
