Hawaiian lessons

Our Hawaiian vacation has produced some life lessons in my heart. Some profound, some just... found:

1.) I am small. I am really, really, teensy small. Not only in existential terms, but in actual terms. There is such big-ness to the universe. Close contact with 30-foot wingspan Manta Rays while sitting on the ocean floor, 60 feet under the surface of the water, under pitch black skies in a vast Hawaiian sea found me newly appreciating my very teensy presence in a very, very big world.

2.) When you commit to listen to people, the byproduct of that investment is that you do actually HEAR what they say. And the message they deliver does seep in to your subconscious, whether or not it is a valuable, positive, or meaningful one. Listening should have warning labels attached.

3.) Nourishing love does require some degree of action on our parts, if love is a verb we are invested in cultivating.

4.) The failure of mankind comes down to an utter failure to communicate truth through administration of love and pursuit of peace. It is a failure of ego and lack of submission. It is an endemic failure of massive proportions. But it can be stopped, wounds healed, and battle won. There is a way. One way.

5.) The people of Lebanon are my heart's prayer right now.

6.) That these islands are formed of the hottest, explosive, destructive, incredible lava formation process imaginable and then become these beautiful fonts of extraordinary abundant life is a testament to God's creative process. Fire destroys, refines, and burns - but paves the way for restorative life once its process is complete. When we are the ones under the sharpening fire, we seem to focus on the pain of the process, not the purpose for it. We rebel at refinement because it hurts. But in doing so, we miss the glory that comes after.

7.) "Burrito" does not have the same meaning at different places on the planet. In concept or execution.

8.) I become much more healthy and whole as I cease looking at the reflections of myself in the eyes of others. Rather, when I look past the reflective surface altogether and into the souls of the PEOPLE surrounding me, I find a much more fulfillment and am usually blessed by the exercise of interacting with, sharing with, and coming to cherish others I share the planet with. I already know who I am. It's not up for debate. My value is not dependent upon the opinions or whims of others, no matter how beloved they may be to my soul. People should not be valued for their reflections of who we are, but be loved for who they are. And for who God made them to be.

9.) I think one of the potential reasons vacations are so restorative is because they begin and end with such a humble experience: a long, cramped, smelly, uncomfortable, cattle car airplane ride, from which the end is cause for rejoicing.

10.) We are home. Hawaii is where God intends our family to be, in His time. This is our promised land.