Don’t forget to breathe

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901

It has been a long first few months of the year around here. There are seasons to this stuff, I know. I’m ready for this one to go.

I find myself saying this periodically. You’re read it and lived it with us. It’s no different this time, but I think I’d like to look at this differently.

I can’t afford to wish time away. Bubba turned 11 and last week Princess turned 9! Time is flying, we’re getting older and life is going by, sometimes without me.

We had planned a trip to Blowing Rock, NC to celebrate the big kids birthdays earlier this year. We went earlier this week for four days. It was incredible. I have rarely experienced a more peaceful serenity in my life. Perhaps, because we needed it so much. God knows our hearts and needs and there are times when what we think is incidental becomes transformative.

This was supposed to be a fun trip. The house we rented was in a gorgeous area just outside of town on a small mountain lake with trails, rivers, and creeks. A view of the mountains, the sound of the stream and the lake right out the backdoor. We were able to take Bubba everywhere in his stroller! Canoes and Kayaks just steps away for us to use at the community beach area.

It didn’t start in complete tranquility though. I had a work obligation that I had to attend to upon arrival that put a damper on things. But the next morning…. my goodness. It was like you let all the stress out of our family. We instantly relaxed by the cool waters of the nearby river and lake. We were busy in the best way. Spending time with each other.

There is just something about water and it wins, every time. John the Baptist made no mistake in using it as a substitute for blood of the Lamb to reclaim the lost. It finds the cracks in our souls and fills them with healing.

What this trip was in reality was a big deep breathe in the middle of what has felt like chaos. God filled our every need to relax and just be. A tender reminder of the goodness in our lives and the limited years we have to cherish our kids as they grow.

This is especially true for me. I can get bogged down on some the stressors of this life and distracted fairly easily sometimes. I needed this, Morgan needed this, my family needed this, my marriage needed this.

The problem is that we can’t live life at summer camp. But we need its memory. We need the lessons of nature and the reminder of the divine creator who left them to us. God’s glory is on its most raw display when we seek him in what he made.

So what is different about my longing? I do not wish these days to pass, merely the circumstances. Admittedly, circumstances that pass with more or less pain depending on the day. I long for a victory already delivered. I just need to be reminded that I do not belong to these circumstances but to the God who formed the universe and reclaimed my sinful soul through his son.

On a hill faraway stood an old rugged cross

The emblem of suffering and shame

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

The Old Rugged Cross, George Bennard, 1912