Tuscany, Italy. If you have ever had the good fortune to visit it, you probably fell in love with it, like I did. The miles and miles of rolling hills, covered with vineyards, olive groves, and iconic Italian cypress trees are punctuated with ancient walled cities that poke out of the rolling landscape.
Colors burst from every nook and cranny, and I tried to document and freeze each dazzling moment. The morning mist that hung over the mountains softened and hushed the vistas, captivating me with its beauty. The sunlight on the pastures and buildings and flowers spoke to me in ways that didn't attract my attention when I backpacked through Europe in my early 20's.
There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. It seems a lifetime ago, almost like my trip to Tuscany, which was only a few days ago. It's over, and all I have to prove I was there are my memories and my photos. As I ponder crossing the 'midline' of my life, I try to fast forward myself and imagine what I will feel like when it is ALL behind me--no more possibilities for travel or adventure or love looming in the distance.
Life at times moves so swiftly you barely have time to take a breath. Life at times moves so slowly you cry out in anguish for someone to put you out of your misery. God, however, lives outside of time and memory. From His perspective, all is now: the present, the past and the future. And that includes my present. my past. my future.
Thankfully, only God knows what the future holds for me and leads me into it step by step. But more than that, He doesn't hold the sins of my past against me. Those memories have a paralyzing effect on me and prevent me from enjoying all that God has for me today. God, however, in His grace and mercy, promises to sweep them away like the morning mist and leave the dazzling sunshine in its wake.
And that's a place I can't wait to visit.
"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you." Isaiah 44:22
