| I recently went on an amazing leadership retreat | | | | shoes and rested his feet in the cool waters. We |
| to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. There | | | | spent about 20 minutes enjoying the beauty of |
| was no real plan or itinerary; however there were | | | | this place. |
| plenty of things to do if you chose to do so. One | | | | While I completely understood why the others |
| thing I did was go on a hike. I have this love for | | | | had decided to turn back (their children were |
| nature and enjoy just looking at all the diversity it | | | | younger than 3 years old), I thought to myself |
| has. I have found that nature also has a lot to | | | | the reward we had received through our |
| teach us about life and ourselves if we are keen | | | | perseverance. The funny thing was it wasn't what |
| to pay attention. | | | | we expected it to be, but it was still just as |
| There was a fairly large group of us who went | | | | amazing as what we had anticipated. |
| on this hike (around 14 of us). The trail we hiked | | | | This is quite telling of how our lives are as well. |
| followed the path of a mountain stream. It was | | | | There are many times that we start out on a |
| quite beautiful and we were quick to explore the | | | | journey in hopes of finding a particular destination. |
| giant rocks that littered the stream. It wasn't | | | | We haven't traveled that particular path before, |
| some rippling brook. It was well over 40 or 50 | | | | but we are willing to take things as they come in |
| feet wide in many places. | | | | the hopes of finding what we envisioned to be. |
| As we continued on our hike, the trail became | | | | There may be others who begin the journey with |
| quite narrow and much steeper just past the 2 | | | | us and for whatever reason they may choose to |
| mile marker. Some of those in the group had | | | | not continue on the same path. |
| small children and they decided they were not | | | | It is the perseverance we practice in our lives |
| going to continue. We were on a mission to find | | | | that leads us to a place of beauty and serenity, if |
| some waterfalls and we hadn't seen anything of | | | | we aren't so focused on the destination that we |
| major significance, as far as waterfalls go. | | | | aren't able to enjoy the journey. Even if the |
| A friend of mine and I decided to forge ahead. | | | | destination looks different than how we imagined |
| We both like to stay physically fit and so we | | | | it to look, we can still appreciate the value of it, |
| picked up the pace and trekked deeper into the | | | | should we choose to do so. |
| forest in search of our waterfall. Not too much | | | | If you are in a tough spot or feel that you have |
| further along the trail, off to our left, we saw an | | | | been left alone and are facing a steep climb, let |
| amazing waterfall. It wasn't huge, but it had 3 | | | | me encourage you to keep moving forward. |
| distinctly separate falls. It was an amazing sight. | | | | Enjoy the little surprises along the way. Stop to |
| In our quest for something bigger and better, we | | | | appreciate them, much like my friend and I |
| continued moving up the trail. It was narrow and | | | | stopped to enjoy the beauty of the unexpected |
| littered with tree roots. It was only wide enough | | | | waterfall we found on our left as we were in |
| for us to walk one behind the other and had | | | | search of something else. |
| about a twenty degree grade to it. It wasn't 15 | | | | Your destination may not look exactly how you |
| minutes and we found an amazing spot. It wasn't | | | | envisioned it to be, but it will be beautiful |
| the giant waterfall that we had hoped to find, but | | | | nonetheless because of the effort and energy |
| it was awe inspiring for sure. | | | | you poured into getting there. Life is a series of |
| The waters were crystal clear, cool and made the | | | | hiking trails that lead us to various places. Watch |
| most relaxing sound as they crashed and tumbled | | | | out for the roots across your path, but don't let |
| over the boulders that littered the bed of the | | | | them deter you from forging ahead. We just go |
| stream. At one point my friend took off his | | | | around once in life, so enjoy yourself! |
