One weekend in early June, my sister and I camped in Jasper. I did some sketching, a painting and a lot of photography for future paintings. We traversed a mucky, slippery trail up to the first Geraldine lake, hoping to see the waterfall between the two lakes. Although we saw it in the distance, the river and lake had swollen to cover the trail. We bush whacked and crossed on rocks to get all the way to the lake as it was. We were disappointed that we couldn’t get to the falls, but I pulled out my watercolors and painted the essence of the lake before we headed back down the mountainside. I can work from it later or add more to it. My sister, Laura, did get a nice shot of the Geraldine Falls with her telephoto lens.

We drove to see some other waterfalls since we couldn’t get to that one. And they were beautiful. (You can see me sketching one of them in the picture above. The sketch is below. Tangle Falls, Jasper. We would not have driven all the way down to see this beautiful falls if we had continued bushwacking to the other falls.)

Not all of our plans turn out. We have a choice when we are faced with our plans falling through or not turning out as we anticipate. We can get angry, or upset, we can let the disappointment govern our actions, or we can acknowledge the feelings and look for what did happen and the new possibilities before us. Even little disappointments, can greatly affect us. It is in learning to deal well with the little disappointments, that we know how to face the major disappointments and trials when they come.

In the book of Ruth in the Bible, Naomi and her two daughters-in-law faced a major crises. They had lost their husbands. They start heading back to Naomi’s homeland, Israel. Although Naomi tried to send them back to their parents, Ruth chose to remain with Naomi. Ruth embraced Naomi’s God and the path she was going on. This speaks to me of who Naomi was that Ruth was willing to go wherever Naomi went. It also speaks of Naomi’s faith, that Ruth would embrace it for her own.

They embraced the moment, taking one moment at a time, even acknowledging the pain. Naomi said to the Israelite women, “Don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara,“ which means bitter.

As we learn to live in the moment, abiding in Jesus today, then we can face what comes. He will give us what we need this day, this moment.

I have had a number of small disappointments lately from cancellations, to not getting as much done as I anticipated. When I am tired, the little disappointments seem bigger than they are.

(Below is the sketch of the view at our campground on the Athabasca River. Beautiful place to camp!!)