Today was the day my dad decided that we would be headed to a great forest called Muir Woods. Don't get me wrong, I was excited. I love being outdoors and nature is just so beautiful. I feel like humans do not appreciate the loveliness and the serenity of the world that surrounds us enough. I know that I surely do not.

But beauty in the beastly redwood trees was not the only thing I discovered today. Muir Woods was established to be a national monument in 1908 by the inspired leadership of Elizabeth and William Kent, and Theodore Roosevelt. The Kents purchased the property in 1905 in order to protect it from the North Coast Water Company who desired to level the forest and create a dam and reservoir. The Kents went on to offer the area to the federal government if the President would use the Antiquities Act to preserve and protect it as a national monument.

What great history, you know? If that one couple had simply not cared for the great outdoors and the colossal redwood trees that were created for this area, then those hundreds of thousands of trees that make up a historic park would not be here today. Some of these trees were over thousands of years old.

It is truly intriguing to me to think about how so many people have lived and died and these huge trees still stand. Wars have begun and ended and these trees still stand. Presidents have risen and fallen and these trees still stand. This is such a great reminder of how God will always be there for us, no matter what difficulties we have gone through and those that lie ahead he is a constant in our life. We should lean on Him, because just like those trees, He will always be an unwavering stronghold in our lives.

go hug a tree today ♥

XOXO