To Hike A Mountain, You've Got to Wake Up

I had a very interesting weekend. Both days I planned on going hiking, which I haven't done yet all summer because of how much I've been working. Both days, I didn't go hiking and slept till about noon. It's partially because of my insomnia for sure that I slept through my alarm, but I'm sure it's also partially because I didn't have the enthusiasm/ will to get out on the trail. I did still get to see a sweet (and free) Wallflowers concert at LL Bean in Freeport, ME on Saturday, and got to go to the beach yesterday evening, but I still missed out on a lot.

With what's been going on in my life as of late, I've been doing a lot of thinkin about the Divine. What I experienced this weekend really ties into what I've been thinking about. So without further ado, I present to you the beginning of an ongoing blog series entitled...

What Dustin Thinks God Is, At Least for Today
I've come to see God as a REALLY big mountain, with a lot of different trails and paths that frequently cross each other to get to the top. The different paths are different faiths, religions, beliefs, or whatever you want them to be really. The top is full realization of your relationship with God or the Divine (personified or not). Much as human relationships must always evolve and change to prevent them from becoming stagnant, one's relationship with God should always be continually explored and evolving. Thus, I don't think the point is to get to the top of the mountain, or what trail you take. Instead, I believe the only thing that matters is whether or not you've woken up and are on the Mountain.In my own life, I've spent most of my time on a Christian/ Lutheran trail, and occasionally have left it, but have always come back. My time off the Christian trail though was still very valuable... my exposure to other faiths (particularly Theravada Buddhism) has added a lot to my understanding of God, and has helped reinforce my Christian faith as well.



God's peace,
Dustin