"I walk with beauty around me."

The Navajo people have long shared the concept of walking in beauty, the idea of being at peace within oneself and in harmony with the world around us. Here in Kayenta, in the middle of the Navajo Nation, the lines of the Beauty Way can be taken quite literally. Since we moved here at the end of September, we have been surrounded by a rare kind of stark, raw beauty that can be breathtaking. 

In our "side yard" is the famous Black Mesa--famous (at least in this part of the country) because the Navajo and Hopi have both claimed it as a holy place for eons, black for its rich seams of coal. "With beauty before me, may I walk."

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With Monument Valley only twenty miles away, we are very near one of the world's beauty epicenters. These images were taken just a few miles from our home:

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"With beauty all around me, may I walk."

"I walk with beauty around me."

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"With beauty above me, may I walk."

"I walk with beauty above me."

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 "I walk with beauty around me."

"With beauty all around me, may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.  ...My words will be beautiful."





Susan Aylworth and her husband, Roger, are full-time missionaries serving in the Navajo Nation. They have recently moved to Kayenta, Arizona where they run addiction recovery programs. Susan is the author of fourteen novels with a new series beginning early next year. Find her work at Amazon or on other e-book platforms, also at www.susanaylworth.com. You may reach her @SusanAylworth on Twitter or at susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com.