Day 1099 -- Snowshoeing

I really need to stop writing posts so late at night...

...or the day after the fact.

I'm sure it's not contributing to the quality of my writing.

Regardless.

Today was a perfect day for snowshoeing with multiple inches of fresh powder and temperatures not yet too frigid.

 My husband purchased me snowshoes for Christmas four years ago for Christmas.  It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.  I was pregnant with AJ at the time and very limited in what kind of exercise I was capable of doing.  The snowshoes combined two of my favorite non-people things: hiking and snow.  Just one outing and I was hooked.

Over the last few years, I haven't had too many chances to go out with the snowshoes. I was deliriously happy to be out in the fresh, deep snow and the quiet, deep woods.


While I was out, I got a great workout and I was able to do a considerable amount of deep, clear thinking -- about the present and future, both personally and professionally. It's always amazing to me how exercise and nature so often lead me to realizations and breakthroughs. But then, with a setting like this, maybe it's not so amazing after all:

I am so grateful for the chance to be outside in the beauty of nature and for the joy and insight I received because of it. I can't quite explain how fully content and wholly confident I feel as a result.

Thank God for Snowshoeing!

Lord, thank you for a wonderful way to get exercise and be outside. Thank you for the joy it brought to me today along with the clarity of mind and purpose I felt while walking in your beautiful, snowy creation. In your name I pray, Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 162 -- "Showing Us the Way"

Image
One of my favorite things about the spring is the baccalaureate celebration that takes place the week before graduation.  I love the chance to see my seniors in their caps and gowns and to praise God for their arrival to the finish line.  For every year since I can remember, I've listened to Western's Select Choir perform the song "Showing Us the Way" by Michael V. Ficocelli.  When I was a senior, I even got to sing it at my own baccalaureate.  That year, and every year since I have taught at Western, I get choked up listening to the perfectly fitting lyrics of this song.  Tonight, on a perfect evening at the Cascades Falls, tears ran down my face as I watched the seniors I taught sing the words of this song to their classmates, parents, teachers, and friends.  I smiled and cried a little more as I realized that someday there's a good chance I'll be watching my own kids sing it at their baccalaureate. I had to share it with you.  This isn't Western's
Read more

We Dance...and We Sing...When We Play the Drum!

Let it be known that my son gets his money's worth out of his toys. Or, in this case, someone else's money's worth. Whatever. You know what I mean. The toys that he likes, he really, really likes. He uses them a lot for a long time. This particular toy is a drum that was given to him by our friends, The Tappans, at his FIRST birthday party. Needless to say, tonight he was REALLY enjoying his gift.
Read more

Day 80 -- Calvin and Hobbes

Image
When I was in junior high and high school, I used to read the anthologies of several comic strips, including Garfield, Fox Trot, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes.  I remember reading them by the light of my bedside lamp, trying to stifle my giggles so that my parents wouldn't come bust me for staying up too late reading (the horror!). Calvin and Hobbes, especially, resonated with my sense of humor.  I found the strip simultaneously witty, funny, thought-provoking and perceptive.  I collected all of the anthologies, but somewhere between then and now, I either lost them or gave them away.  I told my husband about my tendency to read them from cover to cover, and how I was sad that I no longer had them.  Not too surprisingly, for Christmas, I received The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book from Santa. I have been slowly working my way through the book, and tonight I was reminded of Calvin's finicky eating habits and of his gift for creating macabre snowman art.  I w
Read more