Back To The Basics

We went camping this past weekend with some good friends, and it was a wonderful fall weekend. The leaves are making their colorful transition into winter, and the crisp fall air was the perfect environment for “roughing it” in the woods.
We had access to a bathroom and electricity at our camp site, so I don’t know if it was really roughing it, but it was amazing to escape from the world for 24 hours.

In front of our tent…

Sweet friends…

Have I mentioned I love Fall?

We went hiking, and we barely went a hundred yards before Jeremy led us off the trail. We crossed a river, slid down angled rocks, and explored “uncharted” territory. We all picked up walking sticks and felt like Louis & Clark as we tapped in to our adventurous sides. It’s good to go off the beaten path every once in a while, and we loved the gorgeous views.

Being out in the open air (if only for 24 hours) got me thinking some deep thoughts.

– It made me thankful for nature. Seriously, God made the world so beautiful.
– It made me more aware of my flaws. My dependence on structure. I could feel the tension in my soul when we veered off the map and then never finished the outlined trail in favor of a different path.
– It made me realize how little we really need to survive. When you are camping, you pretty much have only what you need: a shelter, food, companionship, water. I packed about three things, and pretty much just layered on top of what I was already wearing. We ate things we could cook over an open fire. We (mostly) put away our phones and unplugged to walk on trails and look each other in the eyes and play games and watch the fire. Which leads me to one last thing.
– It made me wish life was simpler.

So, I’ve been mulling over the idea of a simpler life…a less technology dependent, less success driven, more people oriented life. I’ll let you know if I come up with any good ideas on how to make that happen…