Beaten Path and Peace

Heading up north today. For those of you who don't live in Minnesota and don't know that lingo- I'm going to northern Minnesota today. The land of lakes, an overabundance of trees, and barely any human life for the miles in between each town of 200 or so people. It is the peaceful northern woods that many wish were more available then they are today. I love going up north and I'm excited to leave. North is something I will always miss about Minnesota if I ever leave. It's where you can wake up to deer walking across the paths in front of you and fall asleep to the darkness, crickets, and lonely cries of the loon. It's where, during the day, the only sounds you here are your families laughter and chatter, the crackle of the fire, the slamming of the wood screen door to the little wood cabin, and the birds chirping. You are surrounded by woods and lakes with nothing but a beaten path leading in and out, serving as the only road for miles. I love being in northern Minnesota, away from civilization. Yes, I'm an extrovert and love people, but at the same time I need to be alone. And not alone by myself in a locked closet in the dark. But alone, as in with the people I have grown up with who are there for every milestone in my life, up in nature with no distractions from the outside world. Yes we sometimes still argue, but then all I have to do is go for a walk by the lake where I am then given a chance to relax and take in the sun while listening to the wind and birds around me. It's so serene and something I love about Minnesota. It's even prettier around this time and later in the fall, when all the leaves begin to change. The horizon is filled with reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and the occasional green of a pine tree. The sky looks on fire all throughout the day. It's a vast array of color and it almost looks like a painting. . . as if someone took a paint brush and smeared colors across the horizon, connecting the ground with the sky, colors mingling together to form an intricate picture of beauty and perfection.

It's times like this that make me glad I'm alive; that make all the pain worth it. To see this beauty that is incomparable and almost unsurpassed. Without misery we would never truly understand nor appreciate beauty. They are negatives, yet they cannot exist without the other. It is like light and dark. Dark is the absence of light just as pain is the absence of heavenliness.

Those are my thoughts for the day. Now it is off to a long car ride slowly merging from freeway, to road, to dirt road, to beaten path, until we reach our destination and enjoy the beautiful week-end. Blessings.