I [heart] State Parks!

Today was a gift! My youngest and I were able to take the day off and drive 3 hours to one of our state's many glorious state parks. My goal this summer has been to visit as many of them as I can. With a simple purchase of a $25 park permit, I figured I had some pretty inexpensive entertainment lined up for the summer. I knew I'd like it, but I didn't realize how much I'd love it.

State parks for me are the perfect mix of nature and civilization. I LOVE nature and all of God's glory that shines throughout it, but don't get me wrong. Using outdoor toilets, hiking through tick-infested tall grasses and getting lost in the woods are NOT things I even remotely like. Nope, I want my nature with just a touch of modern convenience. Give me flush toilets, maps with clear directions, fun little info signs along the path and even benches to sit on for short rests, and I'm happy. Let me explore nature for 3-4 hours and then hop back in my car and drive to my comfortable bed. Maybe someday, I'll go all out and actually spend a night in the woods, but for now, this is exactly what I need/want.

Walking on the well-groomed trails, decked out in all my nerdy hiking gear (boots, walking stick, hydration pack and wide-brimmed hat), I feel like queen of the trail. Although today, I'm pretty sure a preteen was laughing at my bear spray hooked to my hydration pack. So, in reality, I'm probably more like Queen Dork than like Queen Elizabeth. Doesn't matter to me!

So, in my mind, the state park is kind of like God. It meets me where I'm at. It has lots of options for different levels/skills, but it's ready for me whenever I show up. God is a lot like that. He's there ready for any of us wherever we are and whatever level we're at. I know that God wants us fully and wholly and completely, but if we're not quite ready for that, He takes us as we are. And once we take those first tentative steps, we realize how amazing He is and we want to dive in even deeper.

Not sure if this means someday I'll actually be hiking into a park with only my backpack and a compass, but it does remind me that God is always there, waiting for me to take the first step into His world.