A Lovely Place to Reboot

I got up early, as I usually do. The parakeet, Tallin, is usually asleep. He is never a very social parakeet, and never seems to want our company. When I used to try to pet him, he would peck me. Even when I refill his food, he lunges at me with pecking motions. When I say good morning, he trembles and pops open his eyes. But this morning, while I was padding about making coffee, he was raising a ruckus, chirping up a storm. I had the feeling he was trying to tell me something. Then I noticed his water bottle, which I had refilled recently, was bone dry. It must have a leak. I refilled his water, and he stopped screeching. Funny how I knew the bird was talking to me.

The mountains are talking to me too. Our favorite ski mountain, Sugar, is open with a nice base of snow (mostly man-made, but some natural) and one good run open from the summit to the base. We have our own equipment, and mid-week half day lift tickets are affordable. Asherel worked hard to double up on her school so she could get the day off. Her Destination Imagination team that I manage even accomplished all that they had hoped to accomplish in their extended meeting yesterday. The snow was calling. My spirit has felt a little bone dry lately. I think it has a leak. I think perhaps skiing would help refill it.

That won't be a permanent solution. Snow cannot refill a spirit. But it can sometimes give a break from the worries and woes that wear one down. When my phone or iPad start acting funny, not working the way they should, I power them down, and then turn them back on. That usually solves the problem. The technicians tell me that it is like "rebooting" a computer. Even machines need a break now and then.

So I am going to the mountain with my daughter. We need a "reboot", a new perspective, even a bit of danger. I hope I haven't lost the skill I had last year that allowed me to go to the top of the mountain. Looking out over the whole world from that vantage point, with the gorgeous valley open before me and the endless rows of mountains on the horizon, I never fail to sense the overwhelming presence of God, who created it all. Unlike snow, God CAN refill a leaky spirit permanently. I don't HAVE to go to the mountain to find Him, but it is a lovely place for us to have a chat.

2 Samuel 17:29 (NIV)
.... “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness. ”

Psalm 107:8-9,43 (NIV)
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, [9] for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. [43] Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.



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