I know I always say it, but nothing beats a 4th of July at the cabin. The amount of love from all the family memories made here is enough to saturate every corner of this world. I promise if I could bottle it up and pass it around I would!
After bobby passed though, we had to find a new normal down here. The absence of one of our loved ones is always more prominent to me when we're down here at the family lake house. But time proved its healing powers and life found a way to be normal again. Now that Mawmaw is gone, everyone is shuffling around like mad to make sense of this new family dynamic and trying desperately to reach that new normal once again. It just takes time though. Not hearing her voice and having her delicious home cooked meals come through the door is slightly shocking to all of our souls. We miss her. And we miss Bobby. We always will, but death is a part of life..and if we are blessed with the wonderful opportunity to love and be loved then we have to be brave enough to let them go if that is part of His plan. Its a reality that I feel I become more acquainted with everyday. I have not only lost two important souls that were really close to me, but every time I log into Facebook, it seems as though the shortness of life is brought to my attention with the death of an old friend or a classmate. I use to be shocked, even scared when I would hear of a classmates untimely fate, but Im learning as I get older what it means to trust in the Lords Sovereignty. When I was taking pictures of the fireworks, I was playing around with the manual setting to see if I could get a photo with the most natural lighting possible. Something that is REALLY hard when its completely dark outside..but one cabin across the lake had its lights on. That one cabin in the midst of a completely dark lake was enough to light up the sky and give me some decent photos. I was amazed at how little light it took to get a picture without overwhelming the sky with a flash. It made me think and reflect on everything Ive gone through in my short 26 years of existence. Its so easy with our feeble perspective to think the dark times overwhelm the good in our life. But when we step back and look at the bigger picture, its obvious that the little glimmer of light across the lake is actually the invader. In all my photos, it had overcome the darkness in such a natural way that it is blind to the human eye. When I looked at the picture I saw specific features that I never even noticed before. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. This verse was all I could think about in that moment. Gods promise to us didn't involve us having access into the bigger picture of our lives at all times. He simply asks us and commands of us to trust in Him while he threads our stories together in harmony with both the light and dark. I am convinced that no matter how dim the light may be or how vast and deep the shadows, God is on His throne using both aspects of life for His Glory. My trust is in Him!
Happy 4th of July
some photos from the weekend..
