Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Maine Day 3: The Long Way

Day 3 found us taking the long and winding road up Rte 1 from Wells to Trenton. We got a late start in the morning... it was vacation after all! And had to make a few stops as we headed out... gas, a few items we still needed for the trip. And, of course, Freeport, was on the way. But neither Cathy or I were here to shop... at least not for long. Our plan was to stop at Bowdoin College, Cathy's alma mater, and then quickly head up the coast to a few small towns in the north, Castine and Blue Hill. Bowdoin had some beautiful buildings and it was great to hear stories from Cathy's college days. Go Polar Bears!
Perhaps my favorite part was when two security guards saw us wandering around the chapel taking pictures and offered to let us in...
And then... we started up Route 1. We wound through great little towns, saw some wonderful views, pointed out landmarks that people had told us to look for along the way, but didn't stop. We had a destination to get to. But as we drove, the time seemed to fly by... and the next thing we knew, it was already 5:30 pm and we felt like we were nowhere near the inn we were staying in. Panic set in. Would we get there on time? Would be able to find it in the dark? We ended up skipping our planned stops and booking it to Trenton. I am not sure what the lesson is hear. Should we have stopped earlier on the trip and simply enjoyed ourselves, not worrying about when we would arrive? Should we have planned ahead more to make sure we reached our destinations in time? The one thing I do know... our expectations got in the way of our enjoyment. Expecting the trip to go faster (thank you very much, google maps... for making us think it would take just a few hours!) Expecting great iconic small fishing towns with great photo ops. Expecting a drive along the coast to be relaxing. Expecting ourselves to be much more together before we left for the drive. I've struggled with expectations in life in general. Especially my expectations about what God has for me in life. Especially those promise that God seems to be holding out there for me. Promises that cause me to look ahead rather than enjoying the moment. It would be easy to say that I should let go of those "false" promises and simply enjoy what God has for me each day... but what if those promises really are from God? I imagine Israel struggled with many of the same feelings as they wandered through the wilderness making their way to the Promised Land. They lost sight of God providing for them along the way. They lost sight of God's promises for them. They became myopic in view, neither farsighted nor nearsighted... just focused on what was lacking. May I learn to somehow remain both farsighted and nearsighted in my life... continuing to cling to God's promises (even if the answer is a generation away!) while recognizing God's presence every moment of every day.

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