By Cindy Koch –

Day 21. Out in the wilderness. Even though I wrote this weeks ago, before I left on this grand adventure with my beloved, I already knew it was going to be beautiful. The things we are able to see this far back on the John Muir Trail, most people will never get to behold with their own eyes. Thanks to modern technology, I know I’ll have plenty of images to share with you when I return to civilization. But you know, and I know, it’s just not the same as walking through the beautiful.

My reflections this past month on marriage have been very short, and very one sided. They have been distant snapshots of moments in marriage that perhaps not all of us will be able to experience in our own lifetime. But like a forgotten wilderness that lies way past the popular beaten path, there is a beauty that endures.

I wonder if our world has taught us to only expect the worst. Guard yourself, protect yourself, rely on yourself, because it is and ugly and painful existence. But I also wonder if that is only half of the story. Even St. Paul writes, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom 8:18-23)

So even after experiencing the beauty of backcountry wilderness, seeing the incredible creation of God face to face, I will be no closer to making this painful existence any better, for you or me. So yes, we wait for a better day, a beautiful and complete creation. I can tell you when love is enjoyed, when a tear is wiped away, when we look up and discover there is someone walking beside us, also enduring to the glorious end, we are reminded of a hope that is more than we have right now. As beautiful and peaceful or stressful and messy as our lives are on our current path, Christ has assured us a home in the promise of a new and glorious Creation.