A Revelation...

I recently returned from a wonderful vacation in British Columbia with my roommate Melissa, where I visited my sister and two of my Uncles. My Uncles both work at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver, and Mel and I had the opportunity to learn how to Snowboard. My Uncle has always wanted to get me on a board, and this was finally my opportunity! I entered this adventure with anxiousness as I always fear the unknown and hate the idea of getting hurt. In the mornings we would have lessons and the afternoons, we would spend attempting to practice the things that we learned in our lessons.

Day 2 came around, and Melissa and I decided we were going to attempt a hill that was by no means little, and much larger than the bunny hill we had spent all of our time on prior. We headed up the ski lift with hands gripping the safety bar tightly , praying we would make it safely down the hill. It was our travels down the hill, where I had a revelation. A revelation about who I am, and how God created me to be and how this affects the decisions I make, and how I make them. Let me share.

I like routine. I like order, organization and control. I like to know where I am going, and why I am going there. I like to have a plan and know exactly where that plan will take me. I like reason and thought, and because of this I often over think. (None of this being my revelation). Heading down the slope of unknown grounds was definitely not aligning with these things I like so much, and therefore, I was full of fear.

This parallels well with the unknown of next year. Since Kindergarten, I have always known what the next year would hold. I transitioned from highschool, to post-secondary school and then immediately in to Teachers College. I am sure you can imagine how having no definite plans for next year might cause me to fear after years of predictability. Up to this point, I have always had a plan, and God has always confirmed my plan, telling me exactly where He wants me to go. I know that God will provide me with the means necessary to do all He desires me to accomplish next year, but my flesh seeks to war against the peace the Spirit has the potential to give me. In a similar mindset as moving slowly down the hill at Cypress, I head in to next year slowly, not making any quick movements or decisions, prayerfully and cautiously seeing what God has in store for me, anticipating the safety of the bottom of the hill where He reveals the plan He has for me.

After making it safely to the bottom, we then continued to go down the hill again, and as I got to know the slopes of that hill, I was able to move a little less cautiously, knowing what was ahead of me, knowing that I had done it before, and could do it again. I became more comfortable with the turns and twists, and eventually, was able to look up and enjoy the view of what was going on around me. I pray this will be true for this transition in my life. That as I feel God sending me down a certain unknown "hill", I would become more comfortable with the plans He has for me, and be able to enjoy the wonderful things I know that God will place in my life.

I also know that I should not fear trials, and hurt. Pain is a part of sanctification, and it is through the experiences of difficulty in my past that have shaped me and grown me the most. So I also pray that as I head in to next year, I would not fear doing something that may be way out of my comfort zone. That I would be able to point my board straight to the bottom of the hill trusting that whatever God has for me, a comfortable ride, or a ride full of bumps and bruises, that He has me in His hands. He is good.

I am thankful for this revelation, and love that God has created me to be exactly who I am today, and has given me the grace I need to make it through each day, one at a time. I am curious to see where God takes me this coming year, and pray for the strength to follow Him down any hill, no matter how steep the slope.

High Flight

I love this poem. I always think of it before I fly somewhere and I am leaving tomorrow for British Columbia. So I thought I would share it with you. This poem was actually quoted by President Reagan on January 28, 1986 after the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

It was written by a man named John Gillespie Magee Jr. who was a American who joined the Canadian Air Force. He wrote this poem in an attempt to express the emotions he felt when flying. He died at the young age of 19 years old, while training in 1941.

As with many poems, we tend to interpret poems in a way that relates to us individually. I know it has encouraged me and I pray it touches you in some way as well.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

She replied...

I never really knew her. She never stayed out long enough for anyone to know her really. She was quiet, kept to herself most of the time, except for the days when it was raining. She always seemed a little more social in the rain. The sunny days didn't do much for her. She usually didn't come out of the house until noon on the sunny days, and when she did, she seemed in a hurry. She went out, and was back again, in to the space that captivated her, gave her meaning. The space she knew she could be whoever she wanted to be, whatever that looked like.

One day she went out. Out to do whatever it is she does. But she never came back. I was so sure something had to have happened to her. Something drastic must have happened for something to remove her from the routine of her ins and outs. Her going out and coming back. Her consistency that even I had become accustomed to.

As time passed, I thought about her less and less. Eventually she became a distant memory. Fading slowly until I thought her memory was completely erased.

Until one day, I saw her. I had never seen her with such purpose. I could see it in her eyes. Even the sun couldn't hold her back today. She was zealous for the daylight, looking to soak in every ounce of it. She sat alone, basking in the glory of the sun. A contagious glow around her infected everyone near to her. Her routine changed. She never went to the same place twice and that was her routine. Yet no matter where she was, she continued to touch everyone around her. Rainy days, sunny days, even hurricanes couldn't hold her back.

One day, I found the courage to talk to her. After all these years of following her, watching her, waiting for her.

"What is your name?" I asked.

She replied..."Joy."