My friend, Tiffany, challenged me to “Use the All Trails app – in the spring/summer there are so many fun waterfall trails! You can find trails on ANY skill level.” I discovered that this is a great app to see what trails are nearby. Whenever I move to a new place I try to buy a local hiking trail guide with the hopes of checking out a few. This app saves me from having to buy different books that can become outdated. I can also track what trails I have hiked and a bucket list of trails that I’d like to hike.
I looked through a couple of the local trails and decided to try the Lake Sunset Trail. I reached out to a friend, Val, to see if she wanted to join me on this adventure. Thankfully she had some free time and we picked a date at the end of month.
This was a great paved trail down by the lake. It was about a 1.5-mile loop. The lake was actually constructed in 1972 and spans 208 miles of shoreline and 13,800 acres. It is an earthen dam that backs up the water from a nearby river. Even though I grew up near a lot of rivers and lakes, I’ve never been much of a water gal. I do enjoy my time on or near the water, it’s just never my first relaxation choice.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about for this blog. I knew I could talk about the actual lake or the hike itself, or the sweet community with my friend as we walked, but something felt like it was missing. Today I was reading in Proverbs 3 and I came across this verse 18.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her, those who hold her fast are called blessed.
Proverbs 3:18
The she that is referenced is Wisdom. I love the picture of being able to lay hold of or grasp onto wisdom. The tree made me start thinking about a verse in Psalm 1.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it’s fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:3
Granted I didn’t walk by a stream, but there were a lot of trees (did you see the picture at the top of this blog??). Here’s the questions that have been running through my head today. What fruit am I yielding in my life? Where is my tree planted? Am I near the life-giving water? Am I clinging to wisdom? Am I even seeking wisdom?
I can’t say that I’ve found all the answers, but I do know that part of the adventure is the journey. So I’m sure I’ll continue to wrestle through these questions with the Lord over the next days and weeks. I’ll leave you with a quote I’ve been pondering from a commentary on Proverbs.
Human life in this world is to be affirmed, celebrated and enjoyed, and Wisdom points the way.
The Message of Proverbs – David Atkinson
Adventures of a Single Pretzel 