Today I chose miserable.......Wandering around Marble today with Starbuck (my lab) I chose miserable. We were on a walk with rainy skies, muddy roads and spectacular "moody mountains" with clouds above them and below them. In the middle of the walk I chose a different option than the one I had originally planned. I decided that we would go down a trail from the road and circle back to the Bob Marly (my jeep). The operative word here would be trail not road.

So we started down the trail and we were immediately in sometimes knee high vegetation and sometimes shoulder high vegetation. Did I mention rainy skies? Less than a minute into the trail, my hiking pants were soaked due to wet vegetation. My pants were a little too big and with the extra water weight, in constant threat of slipping down, not something I particularly wanted to happen. My feet got soaked, my dog got soaked.... I think you get the picture. Once at the bottom of the trail we had to walk a muddy road to get back to the Bob Marly. Almost to the said jeep, we ran into horses being loaded to go into the back country. Starbuck barks furiously at horses. Horses do not in general like dogs to bark at them. I had to drag her on a tight leash by the horses to load up and head home.

Yes, indeed I chose miserable. I could have finished my original course and avoided miserable. Then as God often does when I am on a hike, He led my heart in a spiritual application. How many times does He give me options and I choose miserable? The good news is that He often gives us options and gives us choices. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we miss the mark just a bit. The even better news is that even when we choose miserable, He does not forsake us but woos us back to the better trail or sees us through to the place where we can load up in our jeep and go to a dry home!

"...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:end of vs 20