Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Quality Time


My family and I have started a Thanksgiving tradition of going camping. This year, Janice, the boys and I went to Stone Mountain Park, Georgia. If you have never been, it is well worth the trip. There is so much to do that we never left the park the entire time we were there. I have many wonderful memories of the trip, but the highlight for me was Friday morning.
My eldest son Benjamin, who is 10, and I were going to make the hike to the top of Stone Mountain. He had been talking about dong it all week. He was pumped up. My youngest son Sam, who is 7, had no desire to make the journey. (If you knew Sam’s personality, this would come as no surprise to you) So the plan was for Janice and Sam to drop us off at the starting point, they would take the gondola up and meet us at the top.
We got there about 10:15. The sun was shining and the air was cool and crisp. Off we went. As we walked along, we talked. Not about anything specific, we just enjoyed good conversation. At times we stopped and admired the beautiful scenery around us. We looked at the carvings people had done in the granite. We took pictures. At times, the slope was quite steep. We would hold hands and help each other along, offering words of encouragement. When we finally reached the top, we felt a great sense of accomplishment. We celebrated with and ICEE as we waited for Janice and Sam to arrive. The entire trip took about an hour, but what an amazing hour. It is an hour that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
This reminds me of how our relationship with God should be. God wants us to be pumped up about spending time with Him. He wants to have good conversation. He wants us to see the beauty that surrounds us. In those times when we struggle, He wants to take our hand. And when we reach our goal, He wants to celebrate with us. God wants this journey to be amazing.
The original meaning of the proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss” is that people pay a price for being always on the move in that they have no roots in a specific place. I have spent most of my Christian walk like a rolling stone. I have been so busy about doing God’s work that I have missed the amazement of the journey. In Psalm 1:3, it says that the blessed man “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” That is where I want to be. I am tired of being a rolling stone. I want to be planted by streams of water.

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