Yosemite and Hard Lessons

This past week Rob and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. For this we traveled together to Yosemite and climbed Half Dome, the place of our engagement 5 years ago. This place, this tabernacle of Gods creation hold such a strong place in our hearts. Today our pastor asked us if we simply pass by the extraordinary in life without stopping to be AMAZED at our creator. Well, it sure is hard to go to Yosemite and not feel as though you are walking along inside God's fingerprint, to feel so overwhelmed with beauty that you can't speak, and then to be hit square in the forehead with the thought...if this is what it looks like on earth, what must God's dwelling look like?

So the hike to the top is ten hours round trip...yes it was a very strenuous, but an amazing ten hours. On our way back we vowed not to speak of our aches and pains until we got to the car. If you can believe this, the way down is the most painful part. Under the canopy of neon green leaves, and above the roar of a powerful waterfall, I made the analogy that life is like this hike. We can choose to grumble about our pain as we walk along, focusing on each step, each painful step and wondering when it will be over. Or we can choose to look up, in the middle of the pain and enjoy the beauty of Gods love that surrounds us if we would only look up. It doesn't mean that the pain is gone, oh no. It does mean that inspite of the pain, or in midst of the pain, he gives our eyes a place to focus that's beautiful beyond description. He's there, God is all around us, waiting for his children to see him, to seek him, to hike after him...but sometimes we get so focused on the pain that we don't see the beauty....and thank him.

Little did I know this seemingly meaningless analogy that I had blurted out to Rob would be so needed by me.

From the book "For those who hurt" by Chuck Swindoll

When words fail, tears flow.

Tears have a language all their own, a tongue that needs no
interpreter. In some mysterious way, our complex inner-communication system
knows when to admit its verbal limitations... and the tears come.

Eyes that flashed and sparkled only moments before are flooded from a
secret reservoir. We try in vain to restrain the flow, but even strong men
falter.

Tears are not self-conscious. They can spring upon us when we are
speaking in public, or standing beside others who look to us for strength. Most
often they appear when our soul is overwhelmed with feelings that words cannot
describe.

Our tears may flow during the singing of a great, majestic hymn, or when we
are alone, lost in some vivid memory or wrestling in prayer.

Did you know that God takes special notice of those tears of
yours?

Psalm 56:8 tells us that He puts them in His bottle and enters them into
the record He keeps on our lives.

David said, "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping."

A teardrop on earth summons the King of Heaven. Rather
than being ashamed or disappointed, the Lord takes note of our inner friction
when hard times are oiled by tears. He turns these situations into moments of
tenderness. He never forgets those crises in our lives where tears are
shed."