Soon after Mary and I began to plan our 2024 October adventure in Italy, we penciled in a detour to the northeast corner of the country to visit the Dolomites. This portion of the Alps is a stunningly rugged and picturesque section of the country.
So, at the beginning of 2024 we reserved a hotel in Bolzano, Italy, and began the planning around the days we would have there. This included driving to Ortisei, Italy where we planned to ride a cable car to the ski area known as Val Gardena.
All of this worked, just as planned, with one immovable complication, the weather. After paying roughly $100 for the two of us to travel upward to Val Gardena, we were welcomed at the completion of the trip with a thick layer of clouds and fog. Months of planning and dreaming and anticipating were now held hostage by an adversary that wasn’t willing to take a ransom.
And so, we did the only thing we knew to do. We started walking on the many marked trails. Breathing deeply of the crisp mountain air, without the benefit of breathtaking views.
Undaunted and determined to maximize our experience we continued to hike. Over the next four hours, in small, incremental movements, the clouds began to retreat. The curtains of nature drew back, and as they did, we marveled. Perhaps more grateful than we would have been with a blue sky day.
Mystery shrouded the new discoveries. Hide and seek with the unknown.
And in those moments of evolving clarity, the masked landscape provoked wonder and awe. And in that wonder and awe I sensed the voice of my Heavenly Father whispering without an Italian accent that this is very much like my journey with him.
From clouds to clarity. And in the emerging clarity, a recognition of the vastness of what is left undiscovered. I see, but only in part. I marvel, but only with an obstructed view.
God, in His vastness provides an inexhaustible panorama that seems to emerge and expand with every footstep. The longer the better. The better, the more incomprehensible.
In the clouds at first. Convinced that the mountains are there, but unsure of what they look like. Then a glimpse. And in that peek, an invitation to continue to venture, to journey, to move forward. Unaware, but unafraid. They are there. The Dolomites are there… and just as certainly, so is He.
Vast. Measureless, yet discoverable.
An invitation to learn. To see. To experience.
In the clouds, mystery. With growing clarity, awe. And with awe, humility. And, in that posture, worship.
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (1 Corinthians 13:12, MSG)
In the beginning, clouds.
Now, glimpses.
But someday, face to face.
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