My wife and I just returned from a much needed vacation in the Smoky Mountains. We were able to take our camper and enjoy the great weather and the many things to see and do. I dare say that we “shopped until we dropped” on many days. The best part though was that we had the opportunity to simply take a break from our normal daily routines and just kick back our feet and enjoy the beauty of the mountains.
Another exciting part of this trip was that this was the first opportunity to take our new dog Remi with us camping. I had mentioned in a prior post that he is new to our family and has been with us almost a year now. We weren’t sure how he would do being around all the other campers with all the excitement that goes on in a normal campground, but we were pleasantly surprised. We had the opportunity to go on several hikes and we could have hiked all day with Remi and he would still keep going. He has much more energy than I do and he really enjoyed the hiking trails and streams and such.
On one particular hike, we were walking in a very shady, calm part of the forest. As we meandered down the dark trail, we could see a small ray of sunshine working it’s way through the thick tree canopy. As Remi got closer to the light, he began to see his shadow. Unknown to him, it was his own shadow. It was hilarious to see how this large shadow of himself actually scared him for a brief few seconds and caused him to run between my legs for protection.
This little episode with Remi got me thinking about those inevitable shadows that we face in life sometimes. It seems like we can be walking along just fine when, all of a sudden, we are rocked and scared by a shadow we didn’t see coming. When those shadows do come your way—-and they will—always remember a couple of things as you go through the darkness: (1) There can’t be a shadow unless there is also light nearby. Even when things may appear to be at their darkest, always remind yourself that God’s light is a close as your heartbeat and He will always see you through your journey; and (2) The shadow always appears larger than the real object. The angle of the light shining through the trees that day made it appear that Remi’s shadow was as large as a giant bear but, in reality, the real object was as small as the dog itself. Our minds have a way to make things seem worse than they really are. Our job is to stay focused on the never-changing truth of God.