There seems to be a longing inside most of us that seeks out the beauty of nature. We go to the woods for the peace and quiet. We go to the woods for what is natural, serene, and untouched by people and industry. This longing, at least for me, stems from the business of life and inability to escape from people, noise, and constant doing.

I have noticed over and over again that when I am captivated by the natural elegance of the creation around me, I am also dismayed by a powerline or building in the same scene. In my mind, I am sometimes able to see beyond or create a snapshot disallowing whatever manmade thing is there, but if I take a picture, it is always there and ugly. Sure, I could crop it out or cut it out of the picture using advanced editing tools, but that isn’t the point. I don’t want to need to do that.

Today, I went for a walk along the Trolley Trail with my dog and glanced up and to my left just in time to see the creek below, peeking through the patch of maple and pine trees, sparkling in the sunlight. A few houses and a road were between me and the creek, but it was beautiful in spite of, no, because of the rest of the surroundings.

I was reminded of something I read in A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. As Bryson hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail, he noted the surroundings were beautiful but also became monotonous. He found he loved not just being out among the trees, stars, and mountains but also among towns and people. Places along the Appalachian Trail were somehow better because of the towns he could see in the valleys. Bryson saw something in both, together and separately.

Many times, I want to crop out the ugly parts of my life. I don’t want to see the mess. I want to see the natural, unmolested (literally) parts of my life. Yet, if I edit my life, I am missing what is real, and what is real is also beautiful. Powerlines, buildings, dams, roads, or fence rows are signs of lives being lived. Scars, tears, and messy homes are too.

Let’s stop cropping out and editing; let’s embrace the lives we live.