May 19 will always be a special day for me. Since the time I was 17 years or so I wanted a baby. Mind you I had no idea for what I desired but maybe it had something to do with not facing up to my broken and focusing on another. It would be about 8 more years before my dream would come true when my first daughter was born on May 19. I had very specifically ordered a red headed girl and from the first moment I saw her I knew I had my wish. She turns 20 today and is quite a wonderful young lady. She enjoys working with kids and older folks and that makes my heart beat with pride. Happy birthday Kylie. Today also marks the day I first fell in love with waterfalls. It has been a rough stretch and by stretch sometimes maybe I mean life. My whole life. I have a hard time fitting in and a harder time keeping friends. God has done some really magical things in my life through the years and I hold onto those special touches when it seems not much goes right. The week before the 19th started with a Bible study at the prison and John Piper shared via DVD a metaphor for grace using a waterfall. I thought about it for days. I had been to falls before, even Niagara Falls as a child. It never struck me as anything special. Through the years I had seen various falls and even two weeks prior I had hiked to one with my sister and kids. Nothing. This week was different. I guess it was time. I guess it was meant for healing and for me to find a place for me, a place of retreat and sanctuary. A Facebook friend posted a picture of some falls and having thought about the metaphor all week I asked where they were. Another followed. That Saturday I got up early and grabbed my camera and headed to Blue Hole in Elizabethton. I was in love. It was the perfect mix of adventure, beauty, discovery and solitude. I saw two falls that day and havent looked back. Along the way I have met some of the most wonderful people, especially one that I will just call the Queen of the Waterfalls. She brought more beauty in my life than I have ever experienced, not just through waterfalls (and she helped me plan massive waterfallathons) but also through a severely needed friendship and always pointing me to Jesus. Another friend told me once that when I see this beauty that what I am really searching for is heaven, for Jesus, and I need to see past the beauty to the ultimate beauty. C.S. Lewis addressed this desire God gives us in The Weight of Glory. ...if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. He has put a strong desire (if you dont believe me ask someone whos been on the trail with me) in me for beauty, specifically waterfalls and I have learned that it was always hiding there, caged and beating the bars. I have done hikes and climbs that i never dreamed someone my age or in my shape could do. I had no experience. None hiking, none map reading, none trip planning, and especially none taking pictures of waterfalls. What a fabulous two years it has been. What a painful two years it has been. Now I seem to be starting a new phase of learning to hike with others and join into that community of like-minded souls and still find my solitude that being an introvert demands. When I started seeing falls on that foggy Saturday morning I had no idea what I was in for, I still dont know. Who could have dreamed Id have seen 410 falls by this time? The next 410 wont be nearly this easy or come nearly so quickly. Thanks to my encouragers and friends that have come and gone and also my new Facebook community that has only just begun admiring, sharing and hiking together. If youve read this far and havent joined Virginia is for Waterfall Lovers, please do facebook/groups/vafalls
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 08:45:33 +0000
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