Beyond the Scenery

 
Park news

The District of Columbia’s National Mall and Memorial Parks is loaded with monuments, commemorations, and statues in its over 1,000 acres. Known as “America’s Front Yard,” this space is part of the National Park Service, and includes Constitution Gardens, which celebrated its 50th anniversary August 1.

The land used to be beneath the Potomac River, until the US Army Corps of Engineers dredged it out to become Potomac Park. The Navy and the Munitions Department constructed buildings on the property during World War I. These “temporary” structures weren’t torn down until 1971, and the parkland became a living legacy to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The memorial to these men who dared defy the British sits on a small island in the lake, accessible by a short boardwalk.

Yellowstone National Park’s newest addition

A white buffalo calf was born in Lamar Valley at the end of June, based on many sightings. Apparently it’s the first reported one in Yellowstone’s history.

How significant is this? Very, especially for the Lakota people. According to native legend, the rare occurrence fulfills a prophecy, and the animal is considered a sacred symbol as well as a warning “that a spiritual awakening must happen,” according to a TVL Network report, quoting a chief of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Oyate tribes. He believes the event signals all the world must come together in peace and caring for the earth, or face disaster.

The tribes held a ceremony and celebration of the calf’s birth, christening the animal Wakan Gli, meaning “Return Sacred” in the Lakota language.

Buffaloes are revered in indigenous cultures. The animals’ mass slaughter in the 19th century devastated the Plains tribes, who relied on the shaggy beasts for food, shelter, and clothing. The Buffalo Field Campaign, dedicated to protecting wild buffalo herds in their natural habitat, says the reason for their near extinction was because “[t]he buffalo and the Indian were obstructing the march of western civilization. Kill the buffalo and not only would the Indian wars be won…but the vast tracts of public land would be opened for the cattle business.”

The White Buffalo Hotel in West Yellowstone (outside the park) chose its name in honor of the revered symbol almost 60 years ago.

Also at Yellowstone… a hydrothermal explosion occurred July 23 from underneath Biscuit Basin’s Black Diamond Pool, located north of the well-known Old Faithful geyser. The release was due to water abruptly becoming steam, not volcanic activity. The park contains about half the world’s geothermal features.

Books from fellow writers

Pelican Publishing Group authors have been busy! Here are some of their just-released manuscripts, all in electronic format:

 • Without a Song, a contemporary romance by LoRee Perry
 • LoRee’s nonfiction Gratitude for All Moments
 • Book #3 in Lillian Duncan’s The Messengers series, Exile
 • Convincing Lou, Jodie Wolfe’s western romance coming out
  August 16, is also available as a hardback
 • Oh, all right, I’ll mention my not-new historical romance,
  The Christmas Child—a little early in the year to be thinking about
  Christmas, but I’ll bet holiday items will be hitting store
  shelves very soon…

Awakenings

Interesting that the word “awakening” was used to describe Yellowstone’s white calf. There have been four “Great Awakenings” here in America, spanning from the mid-1700’s to the Jesus Movement of the 1960s-1970s. Pastor and author Greg Laurie was the subject of the 2023 film Jesus Revolution, about his experience during the latter movement.

To be awake is to be attentive and alert, perhaps watching and waiting for, and anticipating something to happen. The word "woke," often used scornfully as a label for liberal views, really means to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which isn’t a bad attribute to have at all.

Scripture uses the concept of staying awake and alert often, especially in the New Testament. “[K]nowing the time…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed” (Romans 13:11).

Sacred is another word associated the white calf, part of its name. This signifies the little buffalo is set apart and consecrated for a special spiritual purpose—in other words, the calf is considered holy by the tribes.

God self-identifies as set apart and holy, separate from evil and distinct from all other beings (Leviticus 11:44). Not only Jesus’s followers but opposing forces recognized Him as “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24, John 6:69, Acts 3:14).

Are you aware of the times? Do you appreciate it is “high time” to make peace with God before it’s too late? Here’s the amazing part—God imparts His holiness to us when we do (Hebrews 12:10)! No white calf needed…