Saturday, October 13, 2012

My Heaven

I'm not even sure I can begin to tell the story of this door & bring it as much dignity as it deserves.
Let's start from the night:
Thursday night, Hailey & I hopped off a train in Windermere of the Lake District around 7:30pm to a drizzle covered town in the middle of nowhere. The first thing we heard was a bird singing - why did we care? because it was the first bird we've heard since being here. This weekend would be our city-escape, and it surely was. But I'm skipping ahead! Back to the night.
So, being the backpackers we are (we had backpacks on, thus, we were packin' professionals) we decided to walk to our hostel. The sweetest English family pointed us in the right direction, offered to drive us in the dark rain, but we were professionals, so we kindly declined. Thus, our trek began through the winding, single roads with no light to be found except that of the moon behind the clouded sky.
Note: Parents, do not fear, for we were in potentially the safest town in the UK, maybe the world. I feel they may even invite their field-mice in for dinner - that nice.
We finally make it to our hostel room where we share the night in some bunk beds with our now friend, an elderly lady whose name we never caught. She told us if we did the 4 mile hike to Ambleside we wouldn't regret it.
We didn't, and this photo is proof.
This post may be longer than the others, but it deserves recognition. This weekend I was shown my heaven. Now, you may say "Silly, Hunter, your heaven? Come down from your silly cloud." But I believe Heaven is made up of our own little heavens. The deepest desires of our hearts in which the Lord has been dying to show us all our lives. Well, dear readers, I believe I was given a taste these last couple of days.
It started as a walk up & down winding roads, hugged by moss covered stone walls & grass hills greener than envy & sprinkled with sheep. The road turned into rock and the rock turned into mud as we reached the true countryside - the middle of everywhere. No cars, no telephone poles, only green, water, turning leaves & a bitter wind on your nose. And it's not over yet, I haven't written the best part.
The grand finale led to a path through the forest of Alice's dreams. Huge, moss covered trees with invisible tops that disappeared into the clouds. Leaf covered ground, damp from the rain, and secret waterfalls hidden under old stumps & stones. The stroke that truly completed the masterpiece, was the light. The scattered sunlight through the leaves of the trees made for a dream. No camera could capture that light, the idea ruins every memory I have of it. It was yellow & streaming & constant & hidden - like a message written just for me from Him.
We were silent most of our hike, every once in a while we would giggle about something, but there was a moment where Hailey said something I will never forget: "Think of how many people will never see this place, never know it was even here."

Well, friends, this weekend I was given a glimpse into my heaven & I can't wait for you to see it.

1 comment:

  1. What to say? I can't think of anything. Clever, funny, profound — none of it seems to be...appropriate. What a remarkable blessing, thank you.

    So was this Zarkonia....or is the search still afoot?

    ReplyDelete