I normally don’t get weekends. I get random days off during the week. So, when I found that I only worked early shift on Saturday, and then I was off Sunday, I was thrilled. It is as close to being a normal person as it gets.
After work on Saturday, I went to the house of a friend from church. She made incredible enchiladas and introduced me to her friend’s son. He was a World Race Alumni and it was great to speak with him. He stilled fears, answered questions, and gave advice. He has gotten me so excited about what is going to happen to my walk with God over the 11 months on the mission field. I am ready to be in community with my teammates, and to have the challenges that bring so much growth.
I was able to go to church on Sunday morning, which doesn’t happen often. And after church I drove across the TN border to see what the Rhododendron Festival was all about. I ate WAY too much festival food, listened to good gospel music on the banjo, and walked around looking for the Rhodo-flowers. We were a little late to see the best blooms, but I still saw a few. And better yet, I was in a land that smelled like Christmas! The Fraser Firs are the source of the smell, but I remember walking the two miles to the peak of Roan Mountain (wearing sandals and a skirt…like a crazy) and thinking to myself, “I never want to forget this moment…this smell.”
Smells always trigger memories for me, Live Pine-the time I was drinking pine needle tea to fight the hay allergy at the Organic Farm we worked, Firewood Smoke-mornings in Laos when the families started cooking breakfast, Goats Milk-my mother and how she used to share her lotion with me to sooth my poor elbows (Psoriasis).
And now this, I want to remember how though I was wandering alone in the woods for flowers that would not be in bloom, I felt joyful and safe. I was talking to God on those paths, and I felt like a child again. I wasn’t worrying about finances, or my shortcomings, or second guessing what I was doing with my time. No…I was wondering in the woods looking for flowers and it was good. I want to always be in the mindset I had in that land that smelled like Christmas.
To read about how an attitude of gratitude brings contentment at work: The Keeper’s Dilemma
“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” ~C.S. Lewis
