By Doris Schroeder
We are coming to the time of year when many of us need to “come apart for awhile, go somewhere that is relaxing and let our thoughts take us to a place that is close to God. As we grow older, we can remember the special times in our lives when we were “in tune with God” and simply basked in the joy of being with him.
Since John and I are now in the “older generation,” we can recall many such times. The most special times, however, were the years between 1970 and 2000 when we went to Wanda’s cabin near Woodland Park, Colorado. Located on Ute Pass Trail, it was located in the foothills surrounding the little Colorado town. As we drove up the driveway up the hill to the A-frame redwood cabin, located in the towering pines and Birchwood trees, it always felt like we were coming home. It was a place you could “kick off your shoes” and be the person God made you to be.
The A-frame cabin had a glassed-in-front that looked out over the foothills of the area with a perfect view of Pike’s Peak in the distance. In the evening we would make our simple delicious repast, do the dishes and then sit in the two older recliners and watch the light of the cars as they drove down the mountain of Pike’s Peak. Even when some of our five grandsons were over with us, it seemed like an awe would come over us as we thought about the families of that day enjoying the soft mountain breezes. I guess you could just say it made us feel “God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world!”
How fun to wake up in the morning and come into the rustic “great” room and see the clouds gently moving across the sky. Sometimes we would see the rain clouds coming in with a wonderful refreshing shower to our little part of the world. After the rain, we would see a rainbow down in the valley and I would tell our grandsons we could even see the pot of gold at the end. God put it there so we would know He was looking out for us. And He was…we could feel it even in the refreshing mountain breeze…and all was right with the world!
Some days we would drive down to the stores in town and get ideas for crafts to make. One year, there was a store with unfinished animals we could paint. Another time we made owls out of pinecones, or glued rocks into people and painted them. We made up stories about the animals who came to our cabin…let’s see there were the “Bandit Birds” who flew away with all the bird treats, and of course Sammy, the selfish Squirrel who tried to get all the treats for himself and hid them in a tree so the others couldn’t find them. The boys tried to teach him a better way but he wouldn’t listen so we wrote a story about him. So there! We drove down the river and hunted rocks and painted faces of people we knew on them. Later, I would give them to all the kids in my Sunday School Department and because life was still simple and delicious, I think they enjoyed them!
Sometimes we would go into Springs and attend the Western Supper with the Christian cowboys singing some of the old hymns and telling funny stories. During that time, we too, pretended we were living out on the desert trail or climbing the mountain to see what we could see!
On Sunday we would attend a little country church in Divide, Colorado. The building sat on a little hill across the highway and it was so good to hear God’s Word being taught in the rustic setting. Even though it was only a few years ago, it was a time when people still enjoyed the wonderfully simple things of living in America. A time when there was still a general respect for God, our maker, and people got along with each other the way He intended them to do. And yes, they even talked to each other and shared ideas!
It is true; we do need time to “get away.” Where it is doesn’t really matter as much as giving God some time to talk to our soul in a real way. We desperately need a time to recoup for the days ahead of us, no matter where it is. We do not know what is coming but we can know who holds our hand!
Doris welcomes your remarks and can be reached at [email protected]
