The path we take...

I sit here today, looking at the beautiful sun shine, having felt the blistering cold wind...grateful for the beautiful day we had yesterday, and how my wonderful husband sacrificed sleep to spend the day hiking with us and enjoying the weather...

We hiked such a beautiful trail - from Craven's House to Sunset Rock....

 Filled with mossy covered rocks...

 Beautiful sunlit paths of rocks...

 It was beautiful....

 As we walked along, the kids were walking ahead, having fun, laughing about how the path reminded them of LOTR and The Hobbit...joking around about all the Smeagol holes they found that they thought he would hide in or live in...Aaron and I were walking more slow, enjoying the day and at one point stopped for a few minutes so I could have a minute of rest...(I am a little out of shape and the uphill was a little rough on this old girl)...I realized that we could no longer hear them, but not overly worried, they are 12 and 14...as we drew closer to our destination, we ran into some people and they had seen the boys so I was excited to get caught up...the problem, when we arrived at Sunset Rock, the trail had a split and we quickly realized that we had no way to know which way they went...we split up and met back up, realizing they took the path going way past Sunset Rock and decided that I would head back to the car and Aaron would forge on, searching for our children.  As we parted, I was crying, worried that the kids would not think to stop and realize it had been a while since they seen us and dark was only a short time away...as I headed back to the car, so I could drive to Sunset Rock (this way I could pick them all up) I prayed for Aaron to call...when the phone rang, and he told me they had met up I was so happy...they finally turned around because they realized they had been walking forever, hadn't seen us in awhile...We were so worried and they were rambling about the fun they had together...how much they loved the path...

My point in telling this story is this...because today I thought isn't this like life...The Father seeking and searching for His children as we forge on - enjoying what is around us, laughing and having fun with our family and friends...do we run back to Him when we realize it has been to long since we saw or spoken to Him or do we always walk away, never returning the seeking and searching He always is giving to us...He is constantly following us on our path through life...sometimes we walk together, sometimes we run ahead and eventually turn around and sometimes, some of us run ahead and keep on running.  I think as a Father, He gives us the chance to walk ahead - with the knowledge He has given us, but we must always be mindful that He is with us, seeking us out, searching for us - God desires to walk through life with us - I believe that He wants us to grow and enjoy life but we should never forget that He is there  ---- like my boys becoming mindful that they had not seen their father in a while, and turning around to find him, we must always be mindful that He is the One that we should run to, that He is there and that we should be coming to Him not just with the hard times, but with stories and ramblings of fun and the beauty around us...He delights in our happiness and in what brings us joy....

The path we walked is part of His creation, and even in the 30 minutes of being worried, I delighted so much in the beauty He created, in the wonder of what was before me - just as He delights in us - sees the beauty in us, His ultimate creation. 

 More Mossy Rocks....

 Mossy and mushroom covered logs...

 The rocky path...

   Beautiful....