The Scenic Route...The Things of Summer

Last week, I headed out to a place I call "the ranch" for a little vacation. The ranch is a place I go to visit, to vacation, and to work. This time around, it was a time to vacation and meet some new people who were also there to relax. While I was away, I was able to enjoy some more things of summer.

*Before I left I tried out a new polish on my toes....This year, I've decided to try different colors that are brighter. It's silly I know, but pedicures are on my list of favorite things of this season.

*I noticed that the wheat is starting to turn tan. It's almost time for the harvest!

*Evening walks. The heat is cooling, the sun is setting, it's a gorgeous time of day to take a stroll.

*Salads - the usual green salad, cabbage salad, broccoli salad, pasta salads, fruit salads. These are light, cold meals that keep me going when it warms up.

*I ate a lot of watermelon at the ranch over the course of the last week and every single bite was PERFECTION.

*Fireworks with friends and a little girl who LOVED sparklers and fountains and smoke bombs.

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Onto day nine of the 15 Day Challenge

Today's prompt: "Tell us the best day of your life to date."

 

I have had a lot of really great days. Days filled with people I love. Days filled with exciting events that have turned into favorite memories. But, there is one day in particular that has stuck around to make my life better each day. 

I don't know the exact date. I know that it would have been a day of July in 2006....

That day I finally GOT what it meant to BE a Christian and to "live for the glory of God." 

That week I got introduced to John Piper and as he puts it, that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." 

I learned more fully what I was MADE for. I learned why I was ALIVE. I began to have confidence in the reason why my life had gone the way it did, was going the way it was, and would go the way it would.

That summer I was 15. I had applied for the spot at a "Leadership Conference" (i.e. spiritual bootcamp). Our days were spent eating, sleeping, listening to lectures, having SOLO time with God, and of course, having some down time to play volleyball, visit, etc. 

I was seriously EXHAUSTED at the end of each day. This was one conference full of 15-21 year olds who were OUT by 10:30 every night of their own accord.

We were spiritually and mentally concentrating on the great things of God for so much of the day that when evening rolled around we gladly put ourselves to bed no giggling, no talking, no "be quiets". 

I was out on the lawn having my quiet time in a piece of shade...Praying, reading my Bible, looking over notes from some of the sessions so far, journaling and it just hit me. To love God, to be a Christian is to live to make much of Him. To be so focused on God, to treasure Him so fully, that everything else just falls into place as secondary to Him.

God was good to grant me freedom in Christ to do what I was made for. 

I long to have this grow and continue for the rest of my days.