The Child

Last weekend I went home to Seattle for a combo wedding/ camping extravaganza. I think of the bible verse, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink... and that is what this weekend was like for me. I was hungry for wonder, and the earth filled me till I was overflowing. I still am on a high from all the beauty.
Shooting stars- 7 in one night! why sleep in a tent when you have magic happening above you!
In fact, why sleep at all? I love that about stars! I think faith can be pictured as a person waiting up for the stars. Something so far away, so unknown, and yet so important. There is something about witnessing the mysterious "out there" that pulls on the deep "in here". The unknown-yet-so-core-to-our-being parts of ourselves that connect so strongly to the beauty we experience.
And then there was the sun- WARM (I won't say "hot" now that I've lived in Cincinnati for the summer- over 100 "heat emergency days," baby!) and perfect! And the gentle sea breeze to cool if you chance at being slightly over-heated.
Dancing, swimming in the Sound (and later a glorious mountain lake with snow still lingering on the edges!!!)
As I hiked up the mountain, I felt I was hiking back in years. I felt like a kid again, overtaken by wonder. Oh my GOSH!!! That FLOWER IS SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!! (perhaps you get the idea :)
Or just letting the heat of the sun and the beauty of the mountains fill me up and make me pause and say "thank you."
sometimes my thank you is quiet, floating on the breath. And sometimes it is a loud squeel as I shout from the mountain top or jump into a cold mountain lake.
I have wanted to strip myself of my youth. There are times when I wished I was older, more experienced, more "weighty"- holding my ground, knowing my boundaries, certain about everything...
and I have turned against this excitement, this openness, this love that is my child.
To be a minister is not to kill your child, cassie. No. It is to know it and let it give you life. Openness is the seed to your growth. Take this unashamed love of life and enter your work fully as you enter and receive the beauty of the earth.