Part of the beauty of the Psalms is that we can relate. Photos that I've taken (or been there when they've been taken) remind me of the Psalms.

Psalm 121:1 "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?"

From where does our help come? Our help comes down from above - when we need it most, we turn our eyes and our hearts upward. When we were in Yosemite a couple of years ago, the power of God to create all of this really hit me - God - "Elohim" creator of the universe, mighty in strength, power and justice.

Psalm 5:8b "...make your way straight before me."

I was walking around the trails in one of our local parks and I stood in one place and looked down this row of trees in the "forest". I thought, "Wow...was this planned or what?" As I write this post, I'm thinking about God's path for our lives, "wow, was this planned or what?"

Psalm 26:3 "For your steadfast love is before my eyes,and I walk in your faithfulness."

My daughter's beautiful eyes...'nuff said.

Psalm 18:46 "The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,and exalted be the God of my salvation--"

I love geology. I love rocks and dirt and sand. I especially love lichens.

These lichens mean that this rock has been here for a very long time. Like God. The photo was taken in Mesa Verde National Park. We toured Anasazi cliff dwellings - these ancient people lived in these cliffs...and one day, they just left. Gone.

This rock was there when the Anasazi were there. The people came and went, but this rock is still there.

God, our Rock, is still there.

I'm not saying that God has lichens - but He's my rock, He's always there.

Psalm 59:9 "O my Strength, I will watch for you,for you, O God, are my fortress."

This is a "fort" in a state park not far from where I live. God's the real thing.

Psalm 139:17-18

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

This is Great Sand Dunes National Park. Countless grains of sand are swept across the valley (one of the flattest in the United States) and are collected here next to the mountains to form over 30 square miles of sand dunes.

As countless as these grains of sand, God's thoughts are greater still.