Tag: trails

Take A Hike

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Yesterday was National Hiking Day (or Take a Hike Day). My health hike this last decade has been my hardest trail yet! Cooperation between my bones and bohemian way of living is limited. Strength and stretching help me stroll. I’ll not stop dreaming about future trails and rocky mountainous climbs. It’s unlikely I’ll trek near the Matterhorn in Switzerland or embark on a multi-day adventure along Scotland’s West Highland Way. Maybe in my dreams I’ll tackle the Angel’s Landing in Zion, Clingmans Dome in the Smokies, or the Half Dome in Yosemite! My palms are sweaty just thinking about that one! I’m giggling because my own trail proved tougher than me yesterday!

I’m ok with it. I’ll repeat, “I’m ok with it.” It’s taken many years of surrendering, accepting, and pivoting. Tears and trails are teachers. Reaching a peak won’t bring me any closer to Christ. HE HOLDS me in the valley and comforts me in a crisis. From building up strength to tackle inclines to charging batteries on a scooter. HE’S there when I have energy to move and when I’m flat with fatigue.

Walking in wisdom is my daily workout!

If you ever feel overwhelmed by life, it’s okay to seek a way to ground yourself. Are you caught in a never-ending cycle of responsibilities or living on autopilot? It’s easy to find ourselves merely existing, focused on posting or tweeting. What feels truly REAL for you? I understand how life can change your habits and heart. As Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) approaches, I wish for abundant blessings to fill your lives. When you face a mountain that seems too high to climb, may you find strength in our Savior.

This quote was shared by Pam at Everyday Living (I encourage you to visit their amazing homestead and site)!

“I think that it is a better thing than Thanksgiving: thanks-living. How is this to be done? By a general cheerfulness of manner, by an obedience to the command of Him by whose mercy we live, by a perpetual, constant delighting of ourselves in the Lord, and by a submission of our desires to His will.” -Charles Spurgeon

The gifts of supernatural proportions in peace and God’s presence has prepared me for future mountains. Even if my boots don’t tread the trails at my favorite National Parks, I can stroll the streets of home with Thanks-living in my heart. One day, I’ll hike around heaven and run to Jesus!💚

pigtails…or
none…
Amateur Cover of “Sometimes it takes a Mountain” KL Hale

Keep the faith, friends. You are loved. ❣

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Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

K.L. Hale

Various trails across our USA–K.L. Hale (I could have about 500 more? 🙂

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Faith-filled Finale

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“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.”

Robert Frost-“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Tears fell like rain. This wasn’t goodbye. “See you later!” My body and brain were bushed. The quiet and I met in a special place. At that intersection, where my heart, mind, and soul collide, Jesus was there. “Thank you for another year to celebrate your birth with those I love. Thank you for the gift of …you.” All the gifts were opened. Everything else… the love of my family, weight of the diagnosis, aches in my bones, the shifting “rides” of pain & glucose levels, curiosity of new learned health facts, stacks of mail, hundreds of emails, looming responsibilities,…was still wrapped.

What mattered most?

Grasping love like my trekking pole, I loyally laced my boots for an end-of-the-year hike . “God, comfort those who suffered loss. Surround my family and friends with your love and grace. Rekindle the flame of faith in those who doubt. Work a miracle in those who count you out.”

YOU matter. When I pass you on the trail, I see you. Angry? Hurt? Happy? Sad? Rich? Poor? Hopeless? Mad? No matter how you feel, here’s a fact–you are loved.

Happy 2025, dear friends. Keep the faith!

K.L. Hale's avatar

Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

K.L. Hale

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For more information about NET cancer, visit LACNETS!

Have you heard of NET, yet? 🦓

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Simplistic Sanctuary

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If these walls could talk, what would they say?
About bodies with bleeding hearts and hands. 
Building a home of worship, soft like the Sycamore and their souls,
strong like their grit and gratitude.
Resilience rebounded. 
Diligence demanded. 
Fragrance of faith and the forest. 
Lumber of love and frugal floors of forgiveness.
Simplicity alongside the stream. 
As the wind embraces the leaves, the Spirit engulfs the believers.
If the trees could talk, what would they say?
Several sacrificed for this sanctuary. 
Broken branches and hearts 
Congregate with Christ by the creek. 
Everyone is welcomed with open arms.

Traveling the backroads of my soul, some swervy, a few straight, headed to the heart of what matters most. Simplicity. Surrounded by nature, friends, and good music. Fellowship of food & faith. The sights, sounds, and smells of my therapy theme park. Who will gather to hear this kind of music when this generation is gone? It’s not everyone’s cup of coffee, but it puts a spring in my soul. Making new memories; cherishing the past. My resilience rebounded. Health, habits, and homes might change. My heart is fixed.

Sycamore Log Church, built in 1933-nestled in the hills with humility. A simplistic sanctuary stationed by Creation. The Acts of the Gathering meet weekly. Trees, trails, people, and a creek. The Spirit, love, and nature speak.

“Where the river flows everything will live.”

Ezekiel 47:9
“We are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.” A.W. Tozer
Sunset over the Ozarks-K.L. Hale

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Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

K.L. Hale

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Earnest Earth Day 2024

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“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Psalm 24:1

Some of us are blooming, some wilting. Some of us are sowing, others are harvesting. Together, in the garden. I crave our Creator and love HIM. And you.

Have faith, my friends. 🙏🌍💛

“With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Ephesians 1:8-10

National Park Week!

“There is nothing so American as our national parks … the fundamental idea behind the parks … is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”–President Franklin D. Roosevelt; 32nd president of the United States who signed Executive Order 6166, which created the National Park Service we know today

“If you drive to, say, Shenandoah National Park, or the Great Smoky Mountains, you’ll get some appreciation for the scale and beauty of the outdoors. When you walk into it, then you see it in a completely different way. You discover it in a much slower, more majestic sort of way.”–Bill Bryson; American-British travel author/journalist

“The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.” Psalm 95:5

Photo by Ignacio Palu00e9s on Pexels.com

“A national park is not a playground. It’s a sanctuary for nature and for humans who will accept nature on nature’s own terms.”–Michael Frome; writer, educator, and conservationist

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail.” 

John Muir; Scottish-American naturalist, environmental philosopher, conservationist, and author known as “Father of the National Parks”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”-Genesis 1:26

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

https://zionnationalpark.com/articles/10-quotes-about-our-national-parks-to-inspire-you-to-visit-preserve-and-protect-our-natural-treasures

Pics by K.L. Hale

Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

©2020-2024 Flannel with Faith. All rights reserved.