Have you ever looked at other people lives and compared them to your own? I don't mean looked at the GOOD in their lives and been jealous. Have you ever looked at all the painful things they've been through, their heartaches and such, and realized how blessed you are that what you're going through is NOTHING compared to what some others are going through?

I just looked at baby pictures a former student posted and remembered how she lost two babies before she was blessed with this child, and had to fight back tears because I am so blessed and so sad for her loss and so happy for her sweet little blessing.

Thank you, God, for never allowing me to go through more than You give me strength to handle.

The Dark Side of Arenal

The dark side of the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica

In June 2011, I was fortunate enough to go on a tour of Costa Rica for nine days.  (Okay, okay.  So one of the days was nothing but travel, making it more of an eight-day tour, but that's not how the travel agencies bill it, of course!)  Anyway, it was totally amazing, and I miss it so much.  I would love to move there and live there forever!  (You think I'm joking, but I'm not!)

One of my favorite areas was Arenal.  We climbed up to see the Poas crater, which was breathtaking (in more ways than one), but what I found even more magnificent was the live volcano.  I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because of the beautiful smoke that mixed with the abundant clouds, making the sky so beautiful.  Maybe it was the majesty of the mountain.  I mean, I spent ten or so years living in Michigan--in the part where everything is level.  Maybe the mountain just amazes me so because I spent all that time around flat land.  But I think there's something more to it.  I even find the active side of Arenal amazing.  It reminds me of the beautiful, black dirt we had in Michigan (not that I don't think red clay cliffs are beautiful!), but I think the biggest fascination with the dark side of the volcano is that there's life all around it.  When I look at it, I remember times in my life when I felt like there was a volcano in my back yard, so to speak, and I felt like I would be destroyed in a rush of hellish lava.  I remember how somehow, somehow I managed to flourish even though the volcano seemed so much bigger than I  was.  I think what I love so much is that victory that seems so small to us, yet so huge to the plants that flourish at the foot of the volcano.  When I look at the active side of the volcano and see the ashes, I also see life!