{"id":741,"date":"2021-01-07T20:35:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T20:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=741"},"modified":"2021-01-14T16:51:44","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T16:51:44","slug":"beautiful-land","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=741","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/OuVy6MU-1gk\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I wrote &#8220;Beautiful Land&#8221; while traveling with my wife, Paula, and Dave and Dana Brown through the mountains of New Hampshire.<br><br><em>In the stillness of the morning<br>In the absence of a practical plan<br>In the wake of my transforming<br>From a loved one to a stranger again<br>Lies a beautiful land with the hills around<br>Where the mountaintops reach for the billowing clouds<br>And the touch of God&#8217;s hand is the whispering sound<br>Of the wind through the leaves in the dawn&#8217;s misty shroud<br>Beautiful land<\/em><br><br>I remember wrestling with that final verse. My initial instinct was to say &#8220;In the wake of your transforming&#8221; but then I realized it was the opposite that was motivating everything. He, the narrator, the singer, the driver, was the stranger again. Not her.<br><br>I am currently reading a book called &#8220;Into the Silent Land&#8221; which is a sort of a guide to working with silence to mine our unexplored depths, the vast unknown, wild and beautiful, waiting to be uncovered. &#8220;Beautiful Land&#8221; mines similar terrain, I think, in saying that no matter the drama, no matter the pain and the suffering we seem to be facing, no matter our mistakes, no matter the confusion we wrap around us like straightjackets, the beautiful land remains &#8211; untouched, unsullied, untainted, within us, always just a breath away.<br><br>Not a bad thought as we start a new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/album\/beautiful-land\/62962831?i=62962819\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"78\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/applemusic-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-190\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/1kiZXOPnYCMKPMYzQLn0qN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"87\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spotify-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:30px\"> Archives<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=729\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"729\">Learning as I Go &#8211; 1\/1\/2021<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=720\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"720\">Heaven&#8217;s Gate &#8211; 12\/24\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=717\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"717\">Slightly Aimless &#8211; 12\/18\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=709\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"709\">Better Off Without Me &#8211; 12\/11\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=703\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"703\">The Gift of Seeing Through &#8211; 12\/04\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=696\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"696\">Alcatraz &#8211; 11\/27\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=685\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"685\">Then December &#8211; 11\/20\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=679\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"679\">Anchor &#8211; 11\/13\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=675\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"675\">When I Put the Record On &#8211; 11\/06\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=669\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"669\">Bound to Be &#8211; 10\/30\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=664\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"664\">Lost in America &#8211; 10\/23\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=656\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"656\">In My Head &#8211; 10\/16\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=652\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"652\">Start Again &#8211; 10\/9\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=642\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"642\">Morning Sounds &#8211; 10\/2\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=632\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"632\">Saint Jude &#8211; 9\/25\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=622\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"622\">1970s &#8211; 9\/18\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=610\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"610\">Blue Sky Song &#8211; 9\/11\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=24\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"24\">Midnight Ghost &#8211; 9\/4\/2020<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wrote &#8220;Beautiful Land&#8221; while traveling with my wife, Paula, and Dave and Dana Brown through the mountains of New Hampshire. In the stillness of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-741","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/741\/revisions\/754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}