Why We Go

Today our weekly Sunday hike had its share of figurative hills to climb and poison (ivy) to avoid. These obstacles are so very much with us each week, no matter the season. They resemble for us what the seasons of parenthood have looked like. Sometimes we climb, step over, stumble, stand strong. We are often on unsteady feet until the phase or obstacle finds its way into our normalcy or we forget it was something in our way. 

Today we knew feet that refused proper shoes would get itchy and tired, bellies would ache though they'd just been fed. We probably knew we'd rush like we do so often when we set ourselves up for being somewhere "on time," and we knew that among all the things that can make a couple mile hike feel more like ten, there would be more gifts than challenges. 

This is why we go each week. Why it is on our must do list. 

Out Here is where we give our thanks, learn to listen together, to step so lightly in case something small may be under foot. 

Here we look with intention. 

It is where kindness towards others and ourselves is modeled, requested, remembered. 

Here is where the much that is alive on earth and sky is noticed. It reminds us to do so at home. To find joy (screaming, LOOK! joy) in a cardinal, a worm, the moon.

 Here, we are out and yet so very much a part of the whole. We meander, we wander, we have direction. 

Here we are kept on our path when the other moments of our week mean to weaken our spirits. We hold on to these moments, speak of them often, go back to them so we can be filled back up when we are feeling a little low.

 We are each seeking 

treasures: to touch, to keep, to witness, to quiet, to bring togetherness.

We find what we seek.

This is why we go. 

~KGS