In my post Tuesday, I made mention of some spiritual thoughts I've had since our pseudo vacation to the mountains....and now is as good a time as any to just dive on in.
We love the mountains. The majestic beauty combined with the cooler temperatures makes for a great getaway from our hot, treeless area of Texas. I do love our home and our state and the great flat expanse of where we live, but at this time of year the mountains are calling.
This year we decided to go to a different place from where we usually end up in the mountains, and so we chose our final destination fully aware of the major amount of time it would take to get there with two toddlers...but so what? - we're on vacation and we've got DVD's.
And really, it was a perfectly nice place to be with gorgeous views, yummy food, and the coolest gondola transport service that mesmerized my gleeful little children.
But there was something that J and I couldn't quite put our finger on, and it had to do with the feel or spirit of the place. I don't know, but there was a heaviness upon us as we wandered about town, checking out the local businesses and restaurants. Keep in mind that we were towing two toddlers along as well, with one quite irritable because of the double ear infection he was developing. So, that could be part of the "heavy" problem.
In fact, several things probably contributed to our perspective of the feel of things: we had just learned of the tragic death of a friendly acquaintance as we were driving the ten hours up there, and we also came upon the scene of a fatal accident while on the gondola to our hotel. Both of these events caused J and I to reflect on many things - including the fragility of life and the fact that our times are in the Lord's hands.
I know this post is starting to sound like a bummer, but hear me out first....
All this is to say that yes....our hearts were heavy anyway with tragic news and also worry over our son......
But you know, as we left, we drove an hour over to another mountain town to eat lunch, and the intense heaviness we felt before had subsided considerably. What do you make of that?
I know you could say, "Well, Amy, just making progress by getting on the road to see the doctor back home probably relieved some of your anxiety and heaviness."
True.
You could also say, "Furthermore Amy, witnessing the aftermath of a tragic accident doesn't do much for any vacation place, so you probably just needed to leave on account of that, too."
True.
But J and I both agreed...something just didn't feel right about our vacation spot.
The views were awesome, the food was excellent, our hotel was nice, and the mountain air was refreshing..... but strangely, none of this was refreshing to our souls.
Maybe if Cash hadn't become ill and we could have stayed a little longer....then certainly we would have been refreshed and renewed.
Or maybe not.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spriitual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - Ephesians 6:12