Vernal Repercussions

     The spring equinox of March 20, 2015 came and faded with the wind. This day marking the new season of growth and renewal has been in effect for near two weeks now, and yet, I never felt it. At least not here in Maui, where the seasons rarely deviate too far from warm to hotter summer all year round. Twelve hour days are in abundance here. Rising with the sun and falling asleep near 9:00 each day. And we call ourselves young…

     But here, on the 31^st of March, the sun setting low before April swings open a new door, I do indeed feel change. “A new leaf” I shall say. Spring and transformation is in the air. These hours of the 31^st of March will culminate a new direction in my life—one that will take me far and wide, just as long as I keep my arms spread open for the world. Today I opened the envelope for the legal freedom of my young divorce.

I am no longer married.

I am once again single.

I am once again alive—living out my 20s for new experiences, people and places to behold.

     To say that I felt sadness when I opened the postmarked document would most certainly be a lie. My only thought was relief and opportunity, with only the world ahead of me. I have cried the tears of confusion and sorrow and unmistakable pain. I came here to Maui for a rejuvenation and rewriting process. Although that process is far from over, I will not let the demons of melancholy and depression take hold of me. I came to Maui to be Laura again.

To live. To breathe. To experience.

     And so I am. The next chapter of my book begins early tomorrow morning as I ascend to an elevation of 10,023 feet to the summit of Haleakala National Park and then dive near 2,500 feet into its crater. Haleakala is known as the “House of the Sun” due to the Hawaiian legend where Maui, a demigod, captured the sun within the crater, releasing it only when the sun promised to travel more slowly across the sky.

     In part, we are like the sun. Moving day through day consistently on the move. Subconsciously willing our lives to end sooner. Filling it more and more each day.

New tasks. New fillers. New objects of fascination.

We need to be caught. To be wrestled into the earth. Forced to ruminate within our beings.

     So that we can be re-enraptured with the beautiful life laid out before us. The troubles of my life from this past year will be left here in the night as this sun sets, and I will take the necessary step forward tomorrow as the sun rises and I descend into the bowl of time worn erosion. My trip around the moon landscape of Haleakala will push me forward into Easter weekend and the reminder of the one death that gave me second chances again and again in this life. A death that brings complete renewal to those who believe in Him.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, and that whosoever believes in Him shall be saved.” John 3:16

Loved. Gave. Only. Whosoever. Believes. Saved.

     One for the greater life of many. Jesus Christ, a God who could have chosen a life in the cosmos forever separated from His creation, took the form of a human here on earth in order to walk the dirt He created, to speak to those He created and to love the many things of this world He created. Loved and betrayed by those He came to save, Christ gave up his breath in order that ours could be saved for eternity. For something beyond this world. A time for second chances indeed...

     The first week of April will usher me around the next corner of my life. A 90 degree turn filled with anticipation and wonder for what 2015 will continue to bring me. I hope the waves of Maui overtake me and refresh my spirit into tomorrow’s sun.