It was in January that my grandson, Josiah, age 16, said, “I would like to go to Yellowstone National Park.”
I responded, “If you read four books that I recommend and give me a report on them, I will take you.”
Before the end of the conversation his father Chauncey and my other son-in-law, Todd and his two sons, Justus, age 13 and Jobe, age 10 had all indicated their interest in reading the books and going to Yellowstone.
(The four books were: “Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness”, and “Everything You Wanted to Know About God But Were Afraid to Ask”, both by Eric Metaxas and “The Insanity of God” by Nik Ripken, and the biblical book of “Daniel”. )
So this past Friday morning we flew out of Baltimore for Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I said to Josiah as the six of us were driving through Lamar Valley just yesterday, “What was it that made you say that you wanted to go to Yellowstone?
He responded, “This!”
I pondered his answer for a moment and then realized it was both simple and profound.
“This” is what we had planned for, anticipated and now were experiencing: the bears, the bison, the elk, the moose, the antelope, the big horn sheep and the fox pouncing on his prey. “This” was observing in awe the Old Faithful Geyser, the new lake created by the Madison River Canyon Earthquake of 1959, the thermal springs and swimming in sub freezing temperatures in the warm Gardener River fed by the Boiling River. “This”was hiking for seven miles and swimming in an isolated water pool in the Lamar River.
And “This” was the “present” as opposed to the past and the future.
I will admit that at times I struggled to be present. My mind kept going to the future, to things I must do; expectations I must meet. My wife, knowing the pressures I was facing had encouraged me to be present and not to detach.
But this morning at breakfast in a little mountain cafe, surrounded by mountains partly obscured by the newly falling snow, I sat with the five people I love very much and we shared about how we maintain faith in the midst of trials.
Josiah had started the conversation but we all joined in. Tears flowed as faith stories were shared.
Then I realized that “This” is it. “This” is being truly present to one another and sensing that God is present with us in that moment; And that God is placing His benediction on the present moment- “‘This’ is the day of the Lord’s favor. “
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