{"id":905,"date":"2026-05-08T00:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/?p=905"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:55:18","slug":"contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/contentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve stood near (not too near) the rim of the 355′ precipice across from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe– a lifelong dream come true that still feels like a dream. I leaned into near hurricane force winds above roiling waters, crashing waves, and stinging rain at Acadia National Park, then painted it in the shelter of my car. I’ve played on white sands and swum in the blue waters of St. Thomas, gawking at many colored fish of all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve marveled at the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, and I’ve been filled with wonder at mountains, forests, whales, and much more in Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This evening Lyska and I walked in a local park with rolling hills and distant views of the Hudson River. The air was sweet with the fragrance of spring blossoms and the music of birds claiming territory and proclaiming love, while clouds reflected the varied hues of approaching sunset. It soothed my soul, quieted my mind, and renewed me with gratitude. I hope to someday visit again some of the wondrous places I’ve been and perhaps some new places I haven’t yet seen, but as long as I can walk in a local park and enjoy the beauty of my backyard, I am content in the solace of God’s creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ve stood near (not too near) the rim of the 355′ precipice across from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe– a lifelong dream come true that still feels like a dream. I leaned into near hurricane force winds above roiling waters, crashing waves, and stinging rain at Acadia National Park, then painted it in the shelter of my car. I’ve played on white sands and swum in the blue waters of St. Thomas, gawking at many colored fish of all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve marveled at the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, and I’ve been filled with wonder at mountains, forests, whales, and much more in Alaska. This evening Lyska and I walked in a local park with rolling hills and distant views of the Hudson River. The air was sweet with the fragrance of spring blossoms and the music of birds claiming territory and proclaiming love, while clouds reflected the varied hues of approaching sunset. It soothed my soul, quieted my mind, and renewed me with gratitude. I hope to someday visit again some of the wondrous places I’ve been and perhaps some new places I haven’t yet seen, but as long as I can walk in a local park and enjoy the beauty of my backyard, I am content in the solace of God’s creation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[166,173,172],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-prayer","tag-carnwath-farms","tag-hudson-river-sketch","tag-watercolor-sketch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":909,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905\/revisions\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}