When God made Mother Nature, He endowed her with special power and gave her
an exclusive franchise on beauty. God
doesn't do ugly. He only does beauty, and the same is true of his loyal
handmaiden, Mother
Nature.
She works tirelessly around the clock to make our world beautiful. It
doesn't matter whether you're in the rainforest or desert, there's beauty in
every nook and cranny. It may be stark and austere, or lush and
overgrown, but it's always there. You can temporarily hide it under
tons of concrete, but it's still there, and when the concrete crumbles in
the crucible of time, the beauty reemerges for all to see.
The crystal terraces of Pamukkale show Mother Nature hard at work doing what
she does best, creating beautiful things. If you ever wondered what a
frozen waterfall would look like, wonder no more.
The crystal terraces have been around for thousands of years.
Ancient Greeks came to this area to bathe in the turquoise waters found on
the terraces. They believed those waters had medicinal properties, and
they
came from great distances in the hope of being healed. They built
a massive city called Heriopolis on a plateau above the terraces, and they
even
constructed a massive theatre to entertain the inhabitants of this stone
metropolis.
Today, you can see the ruins of the city strewn across the countryside.
A few of the largest structures remain semi-intact, but most of them have
fallen victim to the great enemy of all ancient Greek architecture -
earthquakes. Heriopolis was jewel in the crown of Greece, but the
jewel fell out one too many times, and finally the city was abandoned.
They grew tired of the expense and work involved in rebuilding the city
after each massive quake.
That's the way it is with man-made attempts to create beauty on a grand
scale. Their caricatures of beauty don't endure the ravages of time,
and eventually Mother Nature reclaims the land and leaves her fingerprint of
real beauty in it's place.
Unlike the ruins of Heriopolis above, the terraces of Pamukkale grow better
with time. Even if earthquakes rearrange them a tad, the terraces
endure. Mother Nature never tires of creating beautiful things, and if
you come back in a thousand years, the dazzling terraces will still be there
glittering
in the sunlight and overwhelming you with their beauty.
Good on you Mother Nature. Thanks for not giving up on our world, and
thank you God, for giving us such a loyal servant to do your bidding.
