A popular icebreaker or first date question is, “What do you like to do?” In the past, I would only say solo activities like reading, writing, art, hiking etc. This year, I started to include activities with people. Yes, solo activities are still good and at the end of the day, I would much rather be on my sofa with a good book and my cat. It is who I am. But I also like people too. I like to hang out with friends; I have been enjoying swing dancing and meeting a wide variety of people. But I realized by saying only those solo activities, I was only painting half a picture who I was.  

This week, Abbi, Katelyn, and I decided to write a list of 5 things that makes us feel closer to God. I decided to give myself another challenge. I am going to think of those shared activities I enjoy and see if they make it in the list. 

 

Poetry 

Okay, okay, this is a solo activity. But I had to put it in. Poetry is how I process the world; it is how I learned how to speak to God. Poetry is what gave me a voice. I still remember being in eighth grade, I wrote and read a poem about the Greek goddess Artemis and the entire class applauded me. Then I started sharing my poems to my mom and got embarrassed (but also a little proud) when I soon realized my dad was reading my poems and would share it with his mother, my grandma, during his weekly lunches.  

My poetry is a paper trail of my walk with the Lord.  

I grew up in the church. I grew up hearing the Bible stories and singing those children’s songs. I tell people that I was eight years old when I became a Christian and eleven, I professed my faith by becoming baptized. As I grew up, I wondered if I genuinely understood my decision at eight. Especially during my college years when I kept hearing the testimony of, “Well, I thought I was a Christian in high school, but looking back, I wasn’t.” So, the person got baptized. I remember worrying that I was not seeing something or doing something right.  

Sometimes I still have doubts. 

Then I will find a poem of my youth and I will read it. I will see that God was working in my life, and He was watching over me. Of course, sometimes I cringe at those old childhood and youthful poems.  

I still write poetry. It is like a secret language that God and I have together.  

  

Hiking 

Hiking can be a solo activity, but it can also be a friend activity. By hiking, it can mean hiking a mountain or just take a walk after dinner. Being out in nature is simply wondrous. I am outside in God’s creations and especially when I get away from the city, all I see and smell are the trees and the clean air. The beauty of God is evident and clear. 

On my last birthday, I wanted to go on a short hike with friends. Only two friends agreed to go with me. Nearing the end, a friend needed to take a break, so I sat on a bench with her. This friend kept apologizing to me for slowing me down and that she feels bad, because it was my birthday. I told her that I was not mad nor disappointed. I was happier spending time with her. 

Yes, I enjoy hiking and experiencing God’s beauty. But I also enjoyed the conversations I had with my friends who chose to get out in the Texas heat to hike. I can tell you where I hiked that day and that it was beautiful, I can tell you about the uneven steps, but what really stuck out to me was the conversations I had with my friends. What stuck out to me was holding my friend’s dog as I climbed down the uneven stairs and how I turned on Miley Cyrus’ The Climb because someone said, “We finished that part of the climb.” So naturally I cracked a joke and said, “Yeah and there’s always gonna be another mountain to climb” and cue, Miley Cyrus.  

That’s fellowship and God gave me that. 

 

Creating Art 

I grew up with an artist for a mother. Most of my childhood memories were doing watercolors with my mother at the dining table or making some sort of crafts. In Africa, we did not bring any ornaments with us. To remedy this problem, my mother, one day, picked up seed pods and pinecones and laid them out on the dining table with paints. She optimistically told my brothers and me that anything can be art and consequently, anything can become an ornament. We still have those handmade ornaments.  

To me, creating art is soothing and self-care. It is a unique way in how I see the world. It forces me to look at the details, to see what makes up the subject. I see shapes, textures, and colors more vividly when doing art. How I see the world is then reflected in my artwork.  

I love to view other people’s art. I love to see what style they go for. What color did they pick out and what did they focus on when creating it? For instance, we could both be drawing the same tree in the same park. But I start sketching the leaves, seeing the myriads of colors that the leaves possess. But you were keener on the trunk, so you drew the trunk, and textured the bark and showed all the ridges and curves that the bark holds. Or perhaps, you were more interested in the birds that flutter around the tree branches, so you took a step back and sketch out the whole tree and left room on the paper to include the birds, the flowers, and the deer. It’s fascinating, friends, and I learn a little more about what makes you you.  

I once had a craft-versation with some of the women at church. I brought in a bag of craft supplies and the goal was to do craft and converse. Hence, craft-versation. I painted as I conversed and puzzled with a friend.  

 

Glorieta 

This is not a thing or a hobby, but a place. In a way, this place has encompassed more of a feeling. It is Glorieta, a camp nestled at the foothills of the Rockies in New Mexico and not too far away from Santa Fe. My family would visit Glorieta every summer until I was seven (in fact, they begun the summer I was one or two months old) for missions week. I have several memories of Glorieta in my girlhood — running around the prayer garden, watching VeggieTales in the preschool building on rainy summer days, and being led on outside excursions by summer staffers. It was like a playground to me. 

Then in college, that playground turned into my workforce. I worked in the dining hall, in charge of making and serving pink lemonade and sweet tea to 10,000 campers. I made friendships, some short-term and others lifelong. In fact, one of those lifelong friendships just passed 12 years! In-between workdays and on breaks, I will hike up mountains and on weekends, I will go into Santa Fe with other summer staffers. 

One thing about Glorieta was that the presence of God was so clearly felt the moment you drive through the gates. It did not matter if I was on top of a mountain, walking the prayer garden, or in Holcomb (the church). I felt the Trinity all around me. During the summers I worked at Glorieta, it was sold to another Christian camp and changes occurred. Change is hard right? There were some changes that I agreed with and others that I disagreed with.  

But one feeling that never left and it is a feeling that no one, person or organization, could change was the feeling I got. The feeling where all my problems and worries were left at the front gate. The feeling I had where I could rest with ease and comfort and not be concerned with earthly inflictions. A place with no distractions, just peace and serenity. A true sanctuary. A true feeling of home. 

Glorieta, even, means sanctuary which is perfect in my opinion. I have not been back to Glorieta in nine years, but through this past decade, I have found Glorietas in different places. Places where I feel like I’m truly home. 

 

Narnia 

One Glorieta that I met was when I went to Narnia. It was right before I started graduate school, I had the opportunity to travel to Narnia. Okay, so I did not go to Narnia but due to the nature of this blog, I am keeping that information private. All you need to know is I went to a country that had many people living in poverty and I came to provide aid. Imagine, I went to Narnia after the Pevensie children return home to England and before Prince Caspian’s era. The Narnians are once again under another sovereignty and I found a wardrobe that led me to Narnia, so I aided the fawns, beavers, centaurs, and dancing trees against the Telmarinians as any Daughter of Eve would do. 

So, on my first full day in Narnia, I went to church. A Narnian woman permitted me to use her personal restroom and as I walked away, I stood on the dirt road and looked down the path of homes. I remember just being in awe of where I was, of being in awe of how comfortable it was. 

Which was odd since considering at home, I had technology and 5G at my fingertips. I had running water and electricity. I had my family and friends a phonecall and text away. I did not want for anything. But going to Narnia, it felt comfortable leaving that behind. I remember letting my parents know that I may not be able to call them for that week due to expensive international phonecalls and the instability of it all. When we go there, my friends and I realized that we got x number of minutes free or low-cost at least. Everyone texted their family, the leader texted her husband and informed him to post on Facebook that we all made it safely and to explain the messaging costs, so that our families would know. I didn’t text my parents. I trusted they’ll see the post I was tagged in, and they knew I was in Narnia and knew God’s provisions and angels were around me.  

Standing on that dirt road, looking at the houses and blue sky and trees, I felt refreshed and closer to God. 

This is not me saying that technology is evil and we must be rid of it. No, certainly not. I like modern technology and running water just as much as the next person does. It is not me saying to go on a social media detox or technology detox. It is simply me saying that I feel more comfortable in third or fourth world countries. Countries that remind me how much I take certain privileges for granted.  

It refreshes me and feels like home. In fact, I remember when we were heading back to the wardrobe (read, airport) to go home. I asked my group if we could stay. They all said no. So, I went back, and I did text my parents when I arrived back on US soil.  

 The Wrap-Up

So, my 5 things were not a mixed of solo and shared activities that bring me closer to God. I guess, I am a classic introvert. However, in a way, what I shared can become a shared activity. It can be done in solo reflections and in fellowships. For poetry, I can recite poems at open mic sessions (which I have). For hiking, I can hike with friends (which I have). For art, I can create art with someone (which I have). For Glorieta, I can go there with people and show people the Glorieta of my childhood, youth, and young adulthood. I have kind of done that while working there. For Narnia, one of the best moments there were meeting the Narnians and getting to know the group I arrived with on a deeper level. But I can also do those things with just the Lord and myself. 

What are five things you feel closer to? What’s your Glorieta? 

Elizabeth