About four years ago when I was working at camp, one of my best friends sent me a care package. Included in it was a nail file that had a picture of a blonde and the quote, “I love not camping.”

I haven’t been camping since I was in high school (excluding that required freshman year of college camping trip where they force you to bond with people when you smell bad and look disgusting). So my friends asked me to go camping this summer, and I think maybe it was like what they say about childbirth – that it is so terrible but once you see your baby you forget all about it and want to do it again (how is that real?) – anyways, it had been so long I forgot that camping isn’t really my number one choice for a weekend getaway.

I mean really people, when you have a home, why would you CHOOSE to sleep outside, in a tent, surrounded by RATS and BEARS??

ANYWAYS, I don’t want to sound like a spoiled princess. It was fun. It was great. I warned my friends beforehand that I would literally be useless to them as far as outdoor/camping skills, which apparently wasn’t a deal breaker. I told them I would be the devotional planner (mostly kidding) to which they said, Yes, Kallie. That is your job.

We went camping at the Sand Dunes. What the heck, Colorado – just when I thought I knew just how great you were, you got even cooler.

Despite the pouring rain when we were setting up our tent, and that because of it I woke up to essentially Chinese water torture *drip…drip….drip* on my face (please don’t take me seriously), we had a wonderful time. I would also like to point out that I was the only one who didn’t scream like a 5-year-old girl when the rat ran around our firepit.

I decided that I would learn about Sand Dunes, and how they are formed. My Mom always says that everything has a spiritual lesson in it – especially nature. I figured Sand Dunes couldn’t be any different.

Here is the deal – sand dunes are formed when there is nothing keeping the sand grounded. No vegetation, plants, etc. to keep it in its place. So it flies and piles higher and higher, until it collapses under the weight of itself.

Ohhhh, yep, that sounds like my life.

It is short and simple, people – when we aren’t grounded, we are a freaking mess. We are all over the place. When we lose our rootedness, it sends us flying. And then it all piles up until we can’t bear the weight of it anymore, and we collapse underneath ourselves.

I’ve felt this way recently. As I said last week, life has been a marathon – of beautiful things – but it has been piling and piling and I feel myself collapsing under the weight of it all. I feel myself carrying the weight of people-pleasing, perfectionism, and self-deprecation.

The good news is that Grace finds us at the bottom of the Dune. When I finally collapse and see myself in the reflection of Psalm 16:2 – I have no good apart from You…Grace is there. Jesus is there.

When I am running the marathon of my life, God takes the backburner and I run until I realize I have been running on empty for way too long and find myself on the floor asking for more of Him because I have nothing solid to stand on.

There is a reason Jesus told the story of the man who built his house on the rock, and the weirdo who tried to build his house on the sand. It isn’t just a story for children’s church. We need to be rooted; we need Him as our foundation.

So here are some things to ask yourself: What sends you flying? What keeps you rooted? In what ways have you forfeited your foundation recently? How can you get back to a place of rootedness and solid ground?

I know what I am doing after three straight weeks of busyness – I will be spending Saturday only in these places: my bed, my couch, and my kitchen. No plans, no schedule, just a lot of Jesus. I want to find my way back to my roots, to feel known by Him and to know Him more. Nothing else works.

I have been coming back to Ephesians 3:17-19 so much recently, so I will leave you with this: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

P.S. I really did have fun camping – I got to eat s’mores, not wash my hair and act like a punk (pictured below), does it get much better than that?