To Love and Be Loved

If I had to sum up the last two weeks it would be learning to love and be loved. I was not expecting that going into a week on destiny and then a week backpacking in Michigan would teach me so much about love, but it really did.

Destiny, to follow God's call on our life. To overcome difficulties and challenges to reap the benefits of God's blessing. Fairly simple. But two weeks ago all that God wanted to teach me was "love hopes." In I Corinthians 13:7, Paul tells the Corinthians that love hopes all things. When someone you love hurts you, in love you hope that they did not mean it for evil, you hope for the best in others, yourself, God, you hope that God has the best in mind for you. That first full week in August was a week of hurt, restoration, joy, and love. Thursday, my birthday, ended with a night laying under the stars with friends coming along side me showing love. If earlier in the week I did not hope for the best in these same friends, Thursday would not have been the same. Love hopes.

Then this last week, backpacking in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan along Lake Superior. So beautiful. I loved being in the outdoors, basking in God's creation. But I found it very hard to love the others in my DTS. In my physical tiredness I lost all patience for others. I often desired to go out, be alone, but instead had to do something for another. Really the week hiking was quite easy, but emotionally I never wanted to show my weaknesses, but being with others all the time made that impossible, so I often broke down crying for no real reason.

Some other fun challenges included: learning to poop in the woods, having to set up and tear down camp every day, trying to find firewood in the damp woods, waking up early every day after hardly sleeping, having dirt constantly under my fingernails, having to lick my dishes clean after meals, drinking iodized lake water, trying to sit by the fire and avoid the smoke, having one 11 mile day hiking, having to pack out all our trash and nasties, losing my Russia ring. But all these challenges were nothing compared to the beauty we were surrounded with.

Sunlight streaming through green leaves soaring above us. Tiny orange mushrooms splattered across the ground. Bark folding off birch trees. Stars reflected on a smooth lake at night. Mushrooms growing up a tree. Seeing Lake Superior for the first time and realizing it actually looks like the ocean. Finding completely smooth round rocks in the sand. Picking blueberries along the path as we hiked. Watching the trees change from campsite to campsite, from deciduous to evergreen. Hiking along side Lake Superior. Black-eyed Susans in a field. Neon colored leaves strewn throughout the woods. Tiny crystals of sand with so many colors. Standing on the edge of a sand dune feeling the wind in my skin.

So much beauty and life in God's creation. Each tiny moment making it all worth it. Learning to love regardless of all else, learning to accept love from others, learning that God truly loves me and has a plan and a purpose for my life.