Anticipation

We arrived for vacation in Wisconsin Dells yesterday after about six hours in the car. It's been a vacation a long time in the making. Our last full family vacation was two years ago when we went to Minneapolis for a few days.

We had debated about where to go this summer for awhile and Wisconsin Dells was the destination of choice. I had driven through last summer on my way to Trek's dealer show in Madison and had thought this would be a good place to bring the family.

Waiting until we had less than two weeks before school starts only heightened the anticipation and by the time we left yesterday, we were all ready.

The thing that will probably stay in my mind from yesterday was Maia's reaction to our accommodations. We opted to stay at a place that was a bit more economical for the first few days before heading to one of the resorts with an indoor/outdoor waterpark for the last two nights. The hope was that the kids would be content with their surroundings so that they could better enjoy the last few days that much more.

The place we are curently staying is the Blackhawk Motel. It's an older style, family oriented place that's pretty low fuss, but nice enough. The room is your typical, enter from outside, two bed unit.

I suspect that anticipating this trip for weeks, partnered with a long car ride, inspired Maia's response. When we opened the door and went inside, she said, "It's beautiful!"

I was caught off guard at her assessment of this very basic, non-descript room, but I began to wonder what her reaction will be when we get to the resort in a few days.
It also got me thinking about how often we respond this way with God. He sends us on a journey and in our anticipation we fall in love with a point on the journey when God is leading to something even better.

There are a couple of potential pitfalls when this happens. Sometimes we're tempted to embrace the first place to the point where we can't seem to leave it. Sometimes we're so focused on the second place that we can't enjoy the first place properly.

Life is a journey and I hope that I'm able to enjoy each part of it; the people, the experiences and the lessons learned without getting stuck in a moment or without getting frustrated that I'm not farther along.

Lord, teach me to be content in all things, to embrace what you offer everyday in childlike wonder and to continue to pursue you in the journey.