Hidden Falls
This past Thursday while we were at the homeschool convention in Greenville, South Carolina, we took a walk downtown, ending up at Falls Park where the beautiful Liberty Bridge spans the Reedy River near its cascading falls. Again and again the clouds parted and the sun made the waters glimmer.
Falls Park is a green oasis in the midst of a thriving city. Up until about one hundred years ago, the falls were a favorite gathering place for Greenville citizens.
Then factories grew up along the Reedy and polluted its waters. In 1960 a four-lane bridge was constructed over the falls hiding their beauty. Fourteen years later the Carolina Foothills Garden Club decided to complete beautification projects around the bridge. The club worked for several decades.
In the 1990s, citizens began calling for the four-lane bridge to be removed. In 2002 the mayor and city council voted to do just that and to establish Falls Park. The park opened in 2003; and in 2004 Liberty Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge, was completed over the river.
We enjoyed being bridge pedestrians on Thursday. We gazed out at the river and pretty landscaping as the bridge swayed gently beneath our feet . . .
. . . and we watched the changing views of the falls as we crossed to the other side.
Look in the distance at the upper right of the photo above and find another bridge across the Reedy River which both pedestrians and vehicles use. We crossed the Gower Bridge on foot while walking a few blocks back toward our car. Here’s a close-up of that bridge, completed in 1910.
And below is a view of the Reedy River from Gower Bridge, with the suspension bridge in the distance. Even though the falls is on this side of the suspension bridge, it is completely out of sight from where I stood on Gower Bridge. If someone never saw the Reedy River from any other spot than this one, . . .
. . . , they might never even know that the beautiful falls existed.
Do you teach a struggling learner? Remember that among all the wonderful things you already know about this child, there may be something beautiful you have yet to discover in him or her. Just because it is out of sight does not mean that it does not exist.
. . . and though you have not seen Him, you love Him,
and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him,
you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8
Thanks for the uplifting thoughts that begin my day!