I really enjoyed my sister's visit. One of the things that often happens to me is that I will travel across the United States to see new things while I am missing the things here at home. My sister had never seen a redwood tree, and had only seen the ocean a couple of times. I live next to the ocean, and I walk among the redwoods all the time. While I love both of these things of nature, I had become so used to them that they had lost their incredible magnificence. I literally could not see the forest for the trees. Spending three days among the trees with my sister helped me to see them once again; to see them for the incredible living beings that they are! Hearing her exclamations of amazement about the size and extent of the ocean caused me to open my eyes to its power and strength.

It is awfully easy to do that same thing with almost anything familiar. George and I have been married thirty years, and I catch myself taking him and our life together for granted. I have a big wonderful family scattered all over the place, but until I began trying to catch up on them in the conversations with my sister, I did not realize how disconnected I had become. I live in a beautiful place, and I often don't see it. I serve a wonderful church filled with magnificent people, and I lose sight of that amidst the little problems which come up because people are people! My prayer for myself (and for everyone I know) is that we all might open our eyes and truly appreciate the world in which we live. It might be a great surprise!!!