We took a walk today, as a family... after lunch with our grandparents. The walk was a little much for them... and my parents sat there choosing to stay where it was warm.
They said the walk was long and difficult, it was too cold... we thought nonsense, bundled up in jackets and walked outside... We set out with a goal in mind - the waterfall. We told the kids where we were headed and they were excited. The path was paved, the plants were marked with names and fast facts. There were cutouts along the way with places to sit. There was a slender stream winding its way from the mountain top. The walk itself took us about 20 minutes... The sun cut through the cold and warmed us up.
As we passed people along the path the kids would giggle and say, "Happy New Year". A few times we had to encourage them to keep going, especially my son who so quickly gets distracted. He'd stop and want to stay where we were, he'd want to take in the small areas of beauty wondering why we had to continue. We promised we'd come back to those places on the way down. When we got to the falls they were amazed, they'd never seen that before... they had so many questions and climbed all over - so much better than stopping along the way.
On the way back I wondered how often do I get stuck at the good moment, the pretty moment, the small cut out on the path moment - not realizing the greater moment ahead.
As their parents, sometimes we know where we were going and that where we are headed is much better than the moments we are passing. We could stop and stay or we could push forward with the goal in mind. When we got back and joined the rest of our group, there were so many questions... Did we make it there? Was it a hard walk? Did we see animals? Is it nice outside, it had to be cold... was it cold... They didn't know. I felt like I was filling them in on a little bit of heaven.
I thought about my own path with God. I could choose to sit at the table and wait for others to have their adventures, hoping they come back and tell me about it. Or I could set out and go.... Go where it is easy, paved and safe, enjoying the smaller moments or I could choose to follow Him to the end, where ever He leads - trusting that his path is bigger and better than anything I could imagine on my own.
They said the walk was long and difficult, it was too cold... we thought nonsense, bundled up in jackets and walked outside... We set out with a goal in mind - the waterfall. We told the kids where we were headed and they were excited. The path was paved, the plants were marked with names and fast facts. There were cutouts along the way with places to sit. There was a slender stream winding its way from the mountain top. The walk itself took us about 20 minutes... The sun cut through the cold and warmed us up.
As we passed people along the path the kids would giggle and say, "Happy New Year". A few times we had to encourage them to keep going, especially my son who so quickly gets distracted. He'd stop and want to stay where we were, he'd want to take in the small areas of beauty wondering why we had to continue. We promised we'd come back to those places on the way down. When we got to the falls they were amazed, they'd never seen that before... they had so many questions and climbed all over - so much better than stopping along the way.
On the way back I wondered how often do I get stuck at the good moment, the pretty moment, the small cut out on the path moment - not realizing the greater moment ahead.
As their parents, sometimes we know where we were going and that where we are headed is much better than the moments we are passing. We could stop and stay or we could push forward with the goal in mind. When we got back and joined the rest of our group, there were so many questions... Did we make it there? Was it a hard walk? Did we see animals? Is it nice outside, it had to be cold... was it cold... They didn't know. I felt like I was filling them in on a little bit of heaven.
I thought about my own path with God. I could choose to sit at the table and wait for others to have their adventures, hoping they come back and tell me about it. Or I could set out and go.... Go where it is easy, paved and safe, enjoying the smaller moments or I could choose to follow Him to the end, where ever He leads - trusting that his path is bigger and better than anything I could imagine on my own.
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