Making the Best of It

Three months ago, we planned for—and highly anticipated—a week of camping and hiking in Minnesota. The trip was inspired by an episode from a travel vlog, Adventures of A&K.

I reserved a site at the Burlington Bay campground in Two Harbors, northeast of Duluth, right on Lake Superior. That was to be our home base from which we’d head out on daily excursions.

One day was dedicated to exploring Gooseberry Falls State Park, known for its spectacular waterfalls and beautiful shoreline. Twenty miles of hiking trails follow Gooseberry River, meander through the forest of evergreen and birch, and hug the Lake Superior shore.

A&K highlighted a couple of hikes, one of which we were excited about was the Bean and Bear Lakes trail near Silver Bay. The almost 7-mile hike quickly ascends to a ridgeline offering views of Lake Superior. The trail leads to an overlook of Bean Lake, then down to the shore of Bear Lake. From another ridgeline vista, both lakes come in view.

Along the drive to the Bean and Bear trailhead is a short hike to Split Rock Lighthouse. Doesn’t even take 30 minutes to walk the trail from the parking area to shoreline views of the century-old beacon, but it’s well worth the stop.

Between hiking days—or if the weather wasn’t cooperative—our plan included a road trip up along the shoreline to Grand Portage, on the border with Canada. A non-hiking day doesn’t necessarily mean absolutely no hiking, and the Grand Portage State Park offers a short walk to an awesome, must-see 120’ waterfall. And Canada is just across the river!

Well, that was the trip we were all excited about.

Until the knee glitch.

My poor wife had a sudden flare-up of a knee problem that’s been there for years—but never really gave her much trouble. It’s never hobbled her or prevented any hiking, biking, etc.

Till a few weeks ago.

She had it looked at by a chiropractor friend who’s seen plenty of cases like hers. The treatment? Basically, rest it. No aggressive exercise—especially no up-and-down hiking!

So much for the Lake Superior trip.

Instead, we “stay-cationed” and got a bunch of odd jobs done around the house.

Just before our planned vacation, a major home-improvement project was wrapped up. We got new, upgraded insulation and siding on the house, re-sided the garage, replaced the garage windows, replaced 3 windows in the house, and replaced the doors. We also added an overhang above the side door to provide a little shelter from the rain and snow.

The lawn required attention, too. Last year, we had a large spruce tree taken down, so the space where the trunk had been ground out sank a bit and no grass was growing. Some topsoil and grass seed took care of that spot. Several other areas needed similar treatment.

After living in this home for nearly twenty years, I finally poured a concrete pad next to the garage for the garbage bins. Only took a lot of backbreaking labor, 500 pounds of concrete mix, and another hundred pounds of rock base.

Spring cleaning came late to our home. All the wood blinds and windows finally got cleaned in July! But hey, at least they’re done!

Oh, yes, added an outdoor fireplace to the patio and spruced it up a bit.

I could go on and bore the reader with the mundane chores, but I’ll not test the patience. Suffice it to say, our vacation didn’t go as planned.

On the one hand, that’s truly disappointing.

A few years ago, a fellow hiker introduced me to the Superior Trail as he recounted his week of hiking in the region. At the time, I thought it’d be a great place to visit. A few other glimpses of the region rekindled those thoughts. Then we saw the A&K video, and that settled it—we scheduled the trip! Only to cancel two weeks before leaving.

Sigh.

On the other hand, I learned a long time ago that, when disappointments come, you have to make the best of things. Well, I learned the principle. Can’t say I’ve always acted accordingly. OK, I definitely haven’t.

Nevertheless, on this occasion, we both recognized the backlog of stuff that needed to be done at home. A week away would only push things back further and likely add to the list. So, we tried to make the best of it.

And it is a bit gratifying to look through clean windows and dust-free blinds…to see garbage bins where they belong and pleasant, freshly painted doors…to anticipate blades of grass shooting up through the straw…to scratch through item after item on the projects list.

I was discussing this change of plans with a friend and remarked how much different completing the week of projects is from my normal workload.

In my line of work—pastoral ministry—there’s little tangible evidence that the work invested has accomplished anything measurable.

Sure, at the end of every Friday afternoon, I’ve completed the necessary work to teach and preach on Sunday. I’ve studied the material and outlined my lessons and messages. I can “see” that work. But really, those things are merely tools for the real work coming in a couple of days.

Sunday comes. The Bible study lesson is taught…the sermons are preached…and everyone goes home. What specifically and measurably has been accomplished through the week’s labor that climaxed today?

Monday comes, and the process starts all over again.

But my “staycation” projects are altogether different! I can actually see the fruit of my labor…touch it…measure it….

So, something delightful and gratifying can indeed come out of disappointment!

I’m often reminded in such times of the repeated disappointments experienced by the Apostle Paul and his corresponding resilience.

To be sure, over and over again, he saw a great deal of fruit—tangible results—from his labor.

But read Acts 13-28 and you’ll see time after time when he headed to a city, hoping for a positive response to the gospel message, only to face hostility and opposition. In many cases, he had to flee the city…only to face the same experience in the next one. In each instance, though, he made the best of the situation and left behind a handful of Christians who formed the nucleus of a church.

Then there’s that time when he planned to go into one region, headed in that direction, and God’s Spirit somehow prevented him from proceeding. “Alright,” Paul figured, “I’ll make the best of it and head over here instead.” Only to be stymied yet again. Until he ended up in Macedonia, made the best of things, and accomplished significant ministry.

At one point in his itinerant travels, he ended up in prison. Now that certainly wasn’t on his list of places to visit! So what did he do with that disappointing set of circumstances?

He wrote letters to churches in Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae as well as to Philemon. Letters that are in our Bibles.

By the way, reminds me of John Bunyan. He had planned to pastor and preach in a Baptist church in Bedford, England, but ended up in the Bedford jail for ministering outside the authority of the Church of England.

How did he make the best of his disappointing circumstances?

Just wrote a little book called The Pilgrim’s Progress—only the bestselling book in the world, besides the Bible. It’s been translated into over 200 languages and has never been out of print.

Making the most of our disappointments. I certainly need to learn to be better at this.

“OK,” sigh, “I can’t do what I planned to do…wanted to do…was so excited to do…. What, then, CAN I do to make the best of it?”