You will never see mountains rise so abruptly, so unbelievably, so imposingly, as the Grand Tetons, the forty-mile-long-range reaching for the Wyoming heavens. Considered one of the world’s youngest ranges, no foothills build up to these mountains. You see only the mountains stretching more than 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole.
Once you see the Grand Tetons, you can’t take your eyes off them.
Seeing the Grand Tetons for the first time is something like seeing your childhood mountain drawings come to life. It’s as if when, you drew those perfectly peaked mountains, you were imagining the Grand Tetons, the perfect snow-capped pyramids, just a single row, with valleys between the peaks and tree-lined alpine lakes at the foot of the range.
For miles around, the Tetons tower over the landscape. The tallest peak, 13,770 feet above sea level, is Grand Teton, the park’s namesake. It and two neighboring mountains, South Teton and Middle Teton, inspired the name of the Teton Range. Legend has it that in the early 1800s, French traders, far from home, and likely lonely and longing for companionship, named the range Le Trois Teton, “the three breasts.”
Though other names have been suggested, this name stuck.
Companionship need not take the form that those French trappers had in mind. God created humans to be with other humans, however that relationship presents itself.
We’re reminded of this in the creation story in Genesis 2. God creates the world and then the first human. God quickly realizes that the first human is lonely and creates a second human. We know them as Adam and Eve. But the story is really about human connection and companionship.
Genesis 2 reveals our innate yearning for companionship in our life, having somebody at our side as we journey through life’s passes and valleys.
Perhaps such a companion inspires us to live a better life, offers compassion when we need compassion, says the perfect words at the perfect time, or has the ability to salvage a miserable day.
Who have been the companions that made your life better? To whom have you been a companion?
Grace and peace,
Kimmy
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