A Day Away

Yesterday was called "a day away" at our house. My oldest daughter invited a friend to go to a lake with us, and I invited my friend and her daughter who is friends with my youngest; we all had a friend with us which made it even more special! We have had 2 days of very hot, humid and hazy weather here in the capital region of NYS. So we decided to head east to Berlin Mountain to a wonderful state park called Cherry Plain. The road in this photo is similar to the one that leads from the main road to the park entrance. The lake is a mountain-fed lake which means the water is usually cold but very refreshing....especially on a day like yesterday! We couldn't get there until about 12:30 as the younger girls had their last swimming class that morning. When we arrived there were only 4 other families on the beach. We set up our things on the wonderful expanse of green grass just above the sandy beachline and ate our picnic lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing day in marveling at the Lord's creation. We were surrounded by lush, green trees, the rolling hills of the Berkshires, perfect blue sky, and full, hot sun. There were no bugs other than a few deer flies which didn't bother us. It really was a perfect day for relaxing with friends. And it brought to our minds just how important it is to maintain these friendships. As a society, we tend to neglect friends as we get caught up in 'our stuff" whether it is our careers, our jobs, our ministries, children, school, extracurricular things, and of course the internet/computer/telelvision. And this can be detrimental to our friendships. In order to have intimate fellowship with our friends, we actually need to spend time with them. And if we don't, the friendship usually fades away. So....around our house we have decided to have at least one day out of 7 that is devoted to being with our friends. We even saw some "deer friends" on our way home: an adorable fawn and its mother doe were grazing on the side of the mountain road in the late afternoon. I had told my girls to keep a watch out as they like to graze in late afternoon in summer. And we were rewarded with a view of these adorable "friends". ("we saw Bambi, daddy" my youngest reported at dinner later that evening!). So....will you maintain your friendships this summer at your house? how do you plan on doing it?