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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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July 15, 2017

Lessons from the Lake

Last weekend I watched my daughter run at full speed and jump off of a dock into a lake. Over and over again.

I watched my son figure out how to turn a kayak into a paddle board and catch the biggest fish of his life.

I watched younger kiddos splash and play while I got to have meaningful conversations with their mamas.

I watched the sheer joy on faces after biting into a s’more filled with their version of the perfectly roasted marshmallow (Do you like yours golden or burned? There was great debate over this!)

I watched as my husband quietly served our community and displayed the very heart of leadership.

I watched beautiful sunsets where the light hit the water in such a way that it looked like the entire lake was covered in glistening diamonds.

And I watched it all while my phone sat in my purse in our tent.

I watched it all without the option to post it on Facebook even if I wanted to since there was no wifi.

I just watched it. Savored it. Allowed it to create an imprint on my mind and my spirit that will last much longer than any update on social media.

And I realized that my soul was being filled with something I don’t think I even fully realized it needed.

It needed to be both disconnected and connected at the same time.

Disconnected from the online world and connected to the REAL world.

Now, let me be clear, I’m not someone who is totally addicted to screens. But, my job requires me to be connected to them. I stare at a screen as I write our second book. I stare at a screen as I write blog posts. I stare at a screen as I share on social media and as I lead our online book club.

So, since the screens in my life can’t really go away from me, I have to go away from them.

And there was something so glorious, so much more ‘normal’ about just sitting at the end of the dock with the love of my life as we watched our children kayak around the lake and not feeling any desire to commemorate the moment by putting it on Instagram.

Sometimes I think we fall into the trap of thinking that if we don’t share our activities with the world then it’s like they aren’t really real, or that they didn’t actually happen.

But, the truth is that the most real-ness we can experience is simply being fully in the moment. Taking a mental photograph and tucking it away in your memories, knowing you can pull it out at any time, not just when Facebook decides you need to be reminded of it.

Our time at the lake provided me with such a glorious escape that when we arrived back home, I almost didn’t know how to re-enter the online world. And I kinda didn’t want to.

There were so many life-giving, soul-buffering, heart-filling moments that I needed a bit of time to process it all before I could bring myself to stare at a screen again.

I realized that I need to stop feeling guilty for stepping away from it all (blogging, writing, social media-ing) from time to time. I realized that without the time at the lake last weekend, I may have sunk further into the weariness my spirit has been feeling lately.

I’ve determined that maybe we all need to get back to that time when we didn’t feel like we had to tell everyone every single thing we did during every single moment of the day. That there is something sweet and sacred about knowing that only those girls who floated on the rafts with me in the middle of the lake will remember the hilarity of that moment because no one took any photos and no one posted about it on social media. We are forever bonded together by that experience and we don’t need to prove it by sharing it with everyone.

The lessons I learned last weekend at the lake are ones I’m going to hold as closely to my heart as the memories that were made.

“Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence.  Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.” 
― Maya Angelou

Thank you so much for meeting me at the fence today dear friends,

P.S. The photos included in this post are stock photos. See! I really didn’t get any pictures of our time at the lake! 😉

6 Comments Filed Under: Good Ideas

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Comments

  1. Charlene says

    July 15, 2017 at 11:51 AM

    ❤️

    Reply
  2. Sharon Warren says

    July 15, 2017 at 1:44 PM

    So glad you posted this on your blog. What a refreshing change from so many other’s posts that grind on and on about the tiniest details that aren’t important. May that time be brought back to your memory as you return to the daily life you have been given, refresh your weary spirit, and prompt you to enjoy every moment whether you document it or not.

    Reply
  3. Susan Nowell @ My Place to Yours says

    July 15, 2017 at 8:51 PM

    Good for you, Vanessa! There really is nothing like looking back on experiences shared with friends — real friends, not “social” friends — and remembering the tiniest details. I’m glad your family got away and made some new memories together. Treasure these days, my friend!

    Reply
  4. Deborah says

    July 16, 2017 at 7:24 AM

    Sounds perfect! Savouring every moment…and your photographs of those moments are so serene. I love what you’ve shared here today Vanessa!

    All my heart,
    Deborah

    Reply
  5. Susan says

    July 16, 2017 at 12:33 PM

    Thank you for such a refreshing outlook on getting away from social media! I grew up in a time when there were no cell phones or any kind of social media so I don’t have a problem walking from it. My daughter has even commented on me leaving my phone in another room while we are visiting. I so enjoy reading your blog! Excited to read yawl are working on another book!

    Reply
  6. ROSE says

    July 20, 2017 at 12:45 AM

    I hardly ever use my cell phone as have it for emergency only. Just not a talk on the phone type of person.

    Reply

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Yesterday on the way home from school I had the ra Yesterday on the way home from school I had the radio tuned to my daughter's favorite station and a song that was playing had a line in it that really stood out to me. It made reference to a 'season of the sticks' which I think its safe to say must mean winter. I thought that was such an accurate, albeiet kind of depressing, picture of this time of the year.

While we definitely have more than our fair share of evergreen trees here in Oregon, we also have plenty of trees and bushes that are reduced to sticks during the cold months. But, this morning as I looked out my kitchen window, greedily sipping from my mug of coffee, I marveled at the beauty of the winter sunrise. The sky was all pinks and oranges with frost on the rooftops and a little bit of fog. And, I realized that part of why it was so amazing is because I could see it more clearly through the sticks. The bare branches allowed me a view that I wouldn't be able to see if those same branches were covered in leaves. Being stripped down to almost nothing revealed something magnificent.

We have seasons of the sticks in our lives too, don't we? Times when we feel as though we've been stripped bare and left exposed. It's easy to think that this is a place where all is ugly and dark. And yet, just like the winter sunrise was more visible because of the bare branches, the vulnerability we feel in the winter season of our souls allows us to get a glimpse of beauty that we wouldn't see otherwise. In the lush, warm seasons it's so easy to become comfortable. But in the bare, cold seasons we recognize just how much we need to rely on the One who placed the stars in the heavens and is sovereign over all.

If you feel like your soul has been stripped bare and you've been left exposed and vulnerable, may I encourage you today to ask the Lord to help you to see the beauty in this 'season of the sticks'.

“Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:7
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