Landscape of Life

So it was interesting to me as I traveled to California all the different land forms! I saw mountains, shrubs, mesas, plateaus, hills, tall trees, cactus, desert, sand, canyons, and so much more! As I watched it changed and was amazed everytime, I began to think how similar that is to our life! We are on this journey called life and over the course of our life we go through several different land forms! We go through places in our lives that are flat and easy to travel! We seem to be able to see for miles what is coming our way and then it seems as if out of no where we are in the midst of a desert! Things are hot and dry! We become weary if we don't hydrate ourselves with refreshing water! We can become dead almost in life, faith, and spirit! We don't seem to produce much fruit from our land! Then we get into a place where things are more green! We have began to see growth and life! Things are getting better! Then we begin to go uphill! Maybe these are the struggles of life! These are some of the obstacles we face along our journey! But within the ascent to the top, we still see beauty and wonder! We can still see growth and new life in the grass and animals! Evergreen trees reminding us of everlasting life! yet we can feel in our bodies the work and stress of climbing such a steep mountain! BUT then we reach the top! From there we can see the whole place! We can see where we came from and the great joys and blessings it has brought us! We see the lessons we learned and how we have changed over that trek! We see the sun in all its glory, rays of sunshine beaming through the clouds and over the fields! We can smell the rain awakening the valley! The rain bringing a cleansing spirit! I then think about the Petroglyphs I stopped and visited in Albequerque! These are the things along our path that remind us of our past! Some of these may be good memories and help us to move forward! Some of them may actually keep us from continuing the journey to which we are called! We keep staring and gazing at what has been and what used to be, what happened to me instead of seeing it as just an exit on this journey and getting right back on the highway of life! We many times allow these exits to be overnight stays when they should just be a point to stretch our legs!

I know I can think back into my life and see all types of land forms in my life! I am very grateful for each and can see a lesson in each! I try to remember some of those areas I might have been able to avoid or quicken had I been more diligent in my time and relationship with God! The dry times in my life...was not only dry in the things happening but also in my relationship with God! The mountaintop experiences were the times when I felt the closest to God, my relationship was first priority!

Oh the things we learn while on the road of life!

Blessed Adventurer,

Liz