I spent the weekend with a beautiful woman. She’s a long-time friend of mine who has walked with me through a winding, twisting, and often painful journey over many years now. She would say I have done the same for her. What a gift to have two days and two nights of uninterrupted conversation! What a gift to chat, laugh, cry, shop, eat, and venture kindly into one another’s hearts. What a gift to be in a beautiful location in the mountains, in a beautiful cabin, in the beautiful presence of one another!
As we drove the two hours back to “civilization” we both commented on how we wished we didn’t have to leave. And yet…there is something so life-giving, so sustaining, so encouraging, so comforting, so strengthening present in my heart today because of this short but potent respite. It’s the returning, the coming back to reality that creates the context for me to appreciate her and our friendship even more.
I wonder how my relationship with God might even remotely mirror this past weekend. It rarely does, and yet my time with her kindled my desire for such. What if my time with God – over beautiful weekends or just random thoughts throughout the day – offered me the ability to return, to come back to reality with a deeper appreciation certainly for God, but also for the other relationships and contexts within which I live and work? Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
Who knew?!? That God could profoundly be seen and experienced in a weekend with a beautiful woman?!? Really, with even a moment’s pause, I realize it’s not that shocking at all. I should have known! Here’s to many, many more!!!
Thanks, Karen. You are beautiful and I feel more beautiful because of your commitment to and love for me. You are, indeed, an experience and manifestation of God in my life.
