Majesty

Sometimes, it is in the most unexpected places where we stumble upon a sense of tranquility; a feeling of coming home.  And it’s often not so much about the places that we go, but more about the internal places that our minds take us.  Experiences that linger in our memory; ones that we can take with us wherever we go.  A pocketful of dreams.  Those moments, however brief, can be life renewing, life changing, whether they are captured on a beach in Tahiti, or a bus bench on the way to work.  You know the feeling between exhalations when suddenly all is felt right with the world; warmth radiating and resonating to the tips of your toes; peace.

This week my peace was found in a simple wood cabin, two hundred kilometers from my city home.   Four small walls adorned with a mossy roof, clothed in fish flies, and nestled between evergreens and poplar trees.  My daughter and I embarked on an adventure known as family camp.  Albeit, less exotic than perusing the streets of Paris, but surprisingly, as gratifying and fulfilling for reasons classified for now as “other”.

Six days forty campers, a dozen or so staff, living, eating, and playing in a community bordering the edge of a lake.  Trudging along hiking trails, twirling on old tire swings. Toes dipped off floating docks.  Collecting rocks and memories.

As I sit in Calamined lotion sleeping bag, taking in the scent of the lake water as the wind christens our wooden cave, offering us both comfort and mystery, I am thankful.  Thankful for a fellowship of family campers, united together for one week as neighbors and friends.  In the uniting, the banding together, different cultures, demographics, religions, and races are honored.  Each of us playing an important role in the functioning and wholeness-for this moment-of our camp.  Smiles and greetings and temporary adoption of children not our own, but who we love and care for this week just the same.

And I can’t help but step back and sense God smiling down on the whole affair.  This playground of families-sharing bug spray, morning coffee, and joy, in His perfect garden.  The intricacies of the dragon flies that settle on my lap, the majesty of the black bear who peeks at me behind the tall grass in the meadow, the beauty and terror of the thunderstorms that keep us awake at night, the spirit and camaraderie of the campfire songs, the warmth and radiance of the sun.

And I am left in awe of a miraculous, mysterious, majestic Creator here at family camp.  He takes my breath away.

Psalm 19:1-2  The heavens tell of the glory of God.  The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak;  night after night they make him known.