By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
This summer we took a family vacation to the Rocky Mountain National Park, a favorite respite for my husband and me. This time, we had our son, daughter-in-law, and three enthusiastic grandkids to hike and enjoy park activities.
One morning I took a walk outside our cabin along the Fall River near Estes Park, Colorado. I marveled at the cloudless deep blue sky, distant snow-capped mountain peaks, green pines stretching to reach the sky, and the incredible beauty, smells, and sounds of nature. But the flowing river captured my attention. Whitecaps lifted and rushed forward, always moving, and paying no mind to anything in its way, a continuous flow. God’s natural white noise for rest and relaxation.
A thought occurred to me. The skyscraper mountains and trees stood motionless, but the river water rushed on. We are so much like that river—always in a hurry, racing to somewhere, and failing to slow down and experience life.
God showed me four life lessons during that special time:
- Stop the fast pace long enough to breathe in life.
- Stop the fast pace long enough to experience the scenery.
- Stop the fast pace long enough to treasure God’s blessings.
- Stop the fast pace long enough to touch the person beside you, then reach on to the next and the next.
I lingered by the river’s edge, mesmerized by the sweet, rhythmic sound that brought a gentle reminder of the highs and lows we encounter every day. All work together for good when we let God take over. He has so many blessings for us, and I don’t want us to miss a single one.
How do you slow down and experience life?
