Hiking Along

This summer we spent some time down in Arizona with family. We went on a few little hikes. Hiking with our kids is always an adventure. Nathan is always our "wild card." Sometimes he goes along the trail with us happily and other times he is MAD and doesn't seem to think we should be hiking right then. On this particular hike he was mad and kept grabbing my arm and dragging me down the trail to make it go faster so he could be done.

I finally had to count down the minutes left until we would turn around. "Just 5 more minutes," "4 more minutes," etc. When we stopped at a creek he finally took a break and threw rocks in the water. This seemed to calm him down. I was thankful that he was able to finally sit back and find the peace that comes from being out in nature (and more selfishly, I was thankful he wasn't yelling at me and dragging me down the path and I was able to enjoy it too).

There have been times when we have also given him a little iPod while we hike--and that does seem to help him come along with us a little more easily.

I guess our adventures hiking are very typical of life--sometimes we are running down the path of life mad as a hornet, and other times we are just moseying along enjoying the scenery. I think I tend to enjoy the times when I am able to slow down and enjoy myself.

Hopefully you have an enjoyable hike on the path of life today--although if you do have someone dragging you along, maybe they will eventually slow down and you can catch a breather.