1st Timothy 4:12
Fast forward nearly ten years, and I am sitting here in front of my computer on a cold January night. Boredom has forced me to think about my life more than I have in quite some time. These nights can be disastrous for me, but tonight I think I have realized something new. These past couple of weeks a spirit of adventure has been instilled upon my heart. Lately I find myself thirsting for the unexpected, the different and the exciting; and I have gotten a taste of all of these things in the past two weeks. Monday morning i woke up and made a split second decision to head to the mountains with my two roommates. As they set to work for the day I loaded my backpack with a couple Peanut Butter and Nutella sandwiches and headed off into the woods on my own.
I headed up a winding mountain road for a quarter of a mile before arriving at the Longs Peak trail head, there I began my journey towards the Estes Cone to get some good shots of Longs. The forest reveals a strikingly different picture of self in these Winter months. Trees are covered in the white fluffy stuff, the trail is slick and snowpacked, and every step takes twice as much effort as you might expect, and it is breathtaking. The silence is overwhelming, and the beauty leaves you in awe. As I walked I watched chipmunks scurry across snow, I heard birds chirping, creeks running frantically under layers of ice, and I listened closely for the sound of trees shaking snow from their branches and bristling at the cold mountain air. It was then and there that I knew I was completely and wonderfully free.
After about two miles I came upon a small meadow, in the summer months sure to be teaming with activity, but now windblown and shrouded in snow. I turned and looked to the South only to see the very top of the Diamond, looming, reaching into the sky cast in the warm orange glow of the early morning sun. It was at this moment that i realized something terrible. I had forgotten what it feels like to be truly, awesomely, and fully alive.
Until next time,
Joe
"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."This was, and I suppose, still is my Confirmation verse. It was given to me as a verse to live my life by when i was in 8th grade. To the members of my church, the pastor, and my mentor this was a meaningful and important thing, but as I remember it, the verse was just another thing I had to memorize so that I could get through Confirmation class and get this crap over with. Let's be honest. I was naive, maybe even ignorant then, and if we are going to be even more honest I am just as naive and ignorant as the day that i stood before my congregation and recited that verse word for word; not caring what it meant for them, or more importantly what it meant for me.
Fast forward nearly ten years, and I am sitting here in front of my computer on a cold January night. Boredom has forced me to think about my life more than I have in quite some time. These nights can be disastrous for me, but tonight I think I have realized something new. These past couple of weeks a spirit of adventure has been instilled upon my heart. Lately I find myself thirsting for the unexpected, the different and the exciting; and I have gotten a taste of all of these things in the past two weeks. Monday morning i woke up and made a split second decision to head to the mountains with my two roommates. As they set to work for the day I loaded my backpack with a couple Peanut Butter and Nutella sandwiches and headed off into the woods on my own.
I headed up a winding mountain road for a quarter of a mile before arriving at the Longs Peak trail head, there I began my journey towards the Estes Cone to get some good shots of Longs. The forest reveals a strikingly different picture of self in these Winter months. Trees are covered in the white fluffy stuff, the trail is slick and snowpacked, and every step takes twice as much effort as you might expect, and it is breathtaking. The silence is overwhelming, and the beauty leaves you in awe. As I walked I watched chipmunks scurry across snow, I heard birds chirping, creeks running frantically under layers of ice, and I listened closely for the sound of trees shaking snow from their branches and bristling at the cold mountain air. It was then and there that I knew I was completely and wonderfully free.
After about two miles I came upon a small meadow, in the summer months sure to be teaming with activity, but now windblown and shrouded in snow. I turned and looked to the South only to see the very top of the Diamond, looming, reaching into the sky cast in the warm orange glow of the early morning sun. It was at this moment that i realized something terrible. I had forgotten what it feels like to be truly, awesomely, and fully alive.
"Be an example to all believers...in the way you live"At this moment it hit me. I have been an example in the way I live. But, I have been an incredibly poor example in the way that I live. So this moment right here. This moment of beauty, captured only by my eyes (I was too lazy to pull my camera out of my backpack) is the moment that i resolved to live right, to live well, and to live by standards that i set for myself long ago. It is my hope that I can live a simple life. Not a simple minded life, but a simple life. And I hope to live it well.
Until next time,
Joe
love this, joe.
ReplyDeletep.s. you live an exceptional life.