Reflections On Summer Camping
I love summer for a lot of reasons. I love that the pace of life changes, that I get more time with my daughter, that we get to work in the garden and enjoy its harvest, I love time at the pool with friends, I love watching my daughter compete on her summer swim team (let’s go Dolphins!), I love hanging out with family at the lake and the one trip that I plan for, for at least 6 months every year, is our annual camping trip.
This trip is different from everything else. It is time away from screens, technology, and the hustle and bustle of the life. It is our time in the wilderness. It is our time to hike, take pictures, tell stories, create memories, and continue to write our own story. There is something special about a road trip across the country that ends in living in a tent for 10 days. Life is different in a tent. Life is different when you cook over a fire, have to walk to get your water, heat your water over a fire to take a warm shower and lock up your food to keep the bears away.
Meal conversations are different too. Breakfast tends to be simple for us as we work to get our day started and head out on a hike. Everyone pitches in to get ready, eat, and prepare for the day while we enjoy coffee and hot chocolate and oatmeal. The anticipation of the day to come is palpable - some excitement, some fear, some worry about the length of the hike to come. Lunch found us at a high mountain lake where we listened to people try to scare off a bear, a river pouring down a canyon, and even one day where a bear ran right up to us. These times are sweet because we get to share the fulfillment of the hike together, the joy of relaxing in God’s great creation and there isn’t much like fresh filtered mountain water to drink. Then comes dinner. Dinners around a campfire are special, almost sacred times. The hard work of the day culminates in an amazing meal (mostly prepared by my amazing wife - if you want great camping dinner ideas. let me know. I might be willing to share some secrets). The conversations recap the day’s highlights and struggles, the laughter over the silly things that happened, the time together uninterrupted by the noises of life. You truly feel the presence of God surround these conversations and in these conversations. It is really a brief moment in the craziness of life but these brief moments carry me through another year until we escape to the wilderness again.
This is what living an abundant life looks like for me. Being able to escape the normal day to day, the routine, the noise and find myself in the wilderness, in a tent, hiking, around a campfire with my wife, my daughter, and some of my best friends enjoying the quiet of nature, the laughter of kids, and contemplating the greatness and creativity of God. I never want to leave. I feel like I could stay forever. For me this is the mountain top of my year. Don’t get me wrong, I love the rest of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else, but this is where I feel we reconnect and recharge and reset for everything else to come.
Everyone has a different idea of what an abundant life looks like to them. Very rarely is it a large investment account statement or a bank account with a lot of 0’s behind the leading numbers. These things assist in living life, but they are not life. What is your abundant life dream? What is it that you truly live for, what is it that drives you to keep going? Maybe these are questions you haven’t ever taken the time to think about and if not, I encourage you to take some time and ponder these questions. Then, let’s have a conversation about how we can work together to make this become your reality. Let’s do the hard work of planning, budgeting, debt reduction, saving, etc. so that you can eventually realize and live your abundant life.