There's a lesson to be learned in every one-year-old's birthday everywhere. The little guy gets a ball popper as a gift, and - OOH! OOOH!! OOOOHH!!! - he's the most excited kid anywhere. While the kid is flapping his arms and jumping up and down, the balls fly out of the ball popper, and it's amazing! Then, as every parent knows, an hour later, if it's still left on the floor, then same kid is playing with the box in which the amazing toy arrived.
Amazing wonders and simple pleasures.
We sold the house, the van, and a whole bunch of stuff, left home, and set out in an RV. There are so many amazing wonders to see in God's beautiful creation and in this United States! I highly recommend making this decision. As a family, we've seen so many amazing wonders, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.
Last weekend, we arrived at the amazing wonder of Yosemite National Park. Incomparably beautiful! I think this is the most scenic national park that we've visited thus far! Amazing!!! It was also the most crowded national park we've seen thus far. We sat in standstill traffic for hours. And hours. We got out to hike to a fantastically beautiful waterfall.
We played in the water near the waterfall, and it was a great exploration!
The waterfall-seeing and river exploration lasted an hour, and then we got back in the truck to continue on into Yosemite Valley, with many more sights to see. Then, there was more standstill traffic. For more hours. It became time to turn around and go home, as you can't miss dinnertime when you have a diabetic son. Hours later, we arrived back at the camper. There is no question that Yosemite is gorgeous!! It is an amazing wonder to behold. And I don't know if we'll go back this week. There's an awful lot of people seeking to experience this amazing wonder.
We're now taking time to smell the flowers.
To catch tadpoles and frogs.
To pan for gold. This is an exciting experience when the Fresno River bottom abounds with fool's gold. (As I'm reading this to my sons, they want me to fix this so that it says there's real gold!)
We took time to climb a small waterfall,
And we took lots of time to slide down the waterfall.
The Fresno River is not an amazing wonder, but there comes a moment when simple pleasures become more attractive than amazing wonders.
Did God design us to live at a constant emotional high of amazing wonders? Amazing ball poppers and amazing national parks are fantastic blessings! Yet, I'm thinking the better place to live daily life is in a land of simple pleasures. I don't know that satisfaction or contentment have anything to do with the number of amazing wonders we see and experience. I think they're much more related to being content and happy with the people around us and with the God who loves us put us where He put us, no matter where we are.
Amazing wonders and simple pleasures. I wish you many simple pleasures.
1 comment:
Maybe those amazing things are best tasted in small doses so we appreciate them more and don't take them for granted? That's what makes vacations so special to me... a chance to see and explore, and a break from the every day. But after a week, I can't wait to get back to real life. :):) It's also nice to have a friend who travels so I can live vicariously through her ;).
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