Traces of the Summer 2012

Driftwood piled on a rocky shoreline, with a turquoise lake and mountain range in the background.


There are so many places to go in this vast world, and so much still to do while I'm young—and yet, at times, a deep sense of having no place for my heart creeps in, and I find myself looking back again and again at the path I’ve come. Unresolved questions still linger in a corner of my mind. Every so often, they resurface—bringing with them a fleeting, sweet taste of something detached from reality.

Red kayaks resting on the calm lake under a bright sky, with open meadows and hills in the background.


Times I’ve passed through unrestrained.
At times heavy and desperate, at others lighter than dust—I must have staggered and swayed, carried along by whatever drew me, whichever way the wind blew.

Two mountain goats standing on a grassy meadow near a road, with forest and distant peaks in the background.


I want to be drenched in a downpour—like the rush of ecstasy in the rain shown in The Shawshank Redemption.


A boy mid-flip diving into a pool, with a swimmer in the water and spectators lounging behind.


I want to run endlessly across the plains of western Canada.
Like Forrest Gump, like Jack Kerouac, in search of a conclusion where I might encounter my ideal—wherever that may be.

A camper trailer parked on a gravel path within a dense pine forest campground.


Life, you see...is a sheet of thin ice that might not end in a happy resolution, like a drama or a film. Often—too often—it is the wicked and the cunning who win, all the way to the end. The righteousness and noble values we’ve been taught to admire through what we see, read, and hear—they have become tools in the hands of the corrupt, toys for the scheming. And in condemning their brutal injustice, we sometimes start to mirror them—
catching ourselves in the act with a chill of horror.

A log cabin glowing under a porch light at night, with a swing bench and warm wooden textures.


Me—I mistake small acts done for my own pleasure and satisfaction for “service.” I toss in a few dollars and console myself with the thought that I’ve helped someone. I believe I have faith, despite it lacking sincerity, purity, or devotion. I assume my thoughts and actions are always right, while I think others need correcting. When—if ever—will I change?


A child standing by a turquoise lake, with lodges, trees, and mountains forming the background.

A vast mountain lake under a cloud-filled sky, with two people standing by the shoreline.


Last summer left behind many traces. The mountains and the fields, the lakes—my beloved family, my brothers. Meeting people, talking, sharing hearts. The countless stars that came and went. Those stars felt like our true and noble hopes—ones you must seek to see, ones that don’t show themselves unless you try. They were like precious people we’re meant to walk with. Long-held, painful thoughts came back to me as well.

Now, the traces of that summer seem to be slipping under the shadow of autumn. Like a song that fades from memory unless we call it often, those traces too will slowly lose their color and disappear—but I want to remember them, love them, and savor them for as long as I can.

Canoers paddling across a turquoise lake, surrounded by forested slopes and alpine mountains.


I want to walk that high road. That narrow road. That deep road.

People sitting on a lakeside deck overlooking an emerald lake, surrounded by dense conifer forests and mountains.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis) 02 - Preface

Image
Preface Background of the Book's Publication The content included in this book was originally presented as a series of radio broadcasts, which were later published in three separate volumes: Broadcast Talks (1942), Christian Behaviour (1943), and Beyond Personality (1944). C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity originated from a series of BBC radio broadcasts during World War II. Amid the chaos of war, the BBC sought to offer moral encouragement and spiritual guidance to the public through a Christian lecture series, and Lewis—an Oxford scholar and former atheist —was chosen to present it. He approached the topic with logical clarity and human warmth , framing the talks in a way that embraced not only Christians but also skeptics and non-believers . The broadcasts aired between 1941 and 1944 in four installments, covering topics such as moral law, Christian beliefs, Christian behavior, and the Trinity. These talks were first published as three separate books: Broadcast Talks (1942), Chr...
Read more

Believer, Rationalist and Synthesizer

Image
The history of humanity is not merely a history of technological advancement, but a history of the struggle to perceive and interpret reality. Though we may live in the same era and witness the same events, the worlds reconstructed within our minds are astonishingly different. This frame of perception acts as a fundamental force that determines not only the fate of individuals but the rise and fall of entire eras. It can be broadly categorized into three archetypes: the "Believer," the "Rationalist," and the "Synthesizer."  The Believer The first archetype is the Believer. They treat what they want to believe as truth, rather than objective facts or data. Their world is built upon the pillars of experience, tradition, and emotion, and any information that threatens to crack this structure is treated as a foreign substance and rejected. For them, truth is not something to be discovered, but something to be defended. In the past, during the agrarian age wher...
Read more

Summary and Reflection on Romans Chapter 8

Image
Romans 8 declares five core principles of Christian life—No Condemnation, Life in the Spirit, Identity as God’s Children, Redeemed Suffering, and Inseparable Love . Through C. S. Lewis’s insights, and Scripture, this message shows how these truths operate powerfully in our daily walk. It doesn’t end in understanding but invites us into a lived transformation. 1. No Condemnation – A New Beginning of Freedom “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). This is not just a statement but a triumphant shout of the gospel that God has broken the chains of guilt. Many live under the burden of past sins and failures, but God has set us free. Paul does not present the absence of condemnation as a mere doctrine, but as a life-transforming reality. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, the penalty we deserved has been paid. Guilt no longer defines us—grace gives us our new name. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The real challenge of Christian faith...
Read more

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis) 04 - Chapter 2. Some Objections

Image
Part 1. Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe Chapter 2.  Some Objections C.S. Lewis presented two key observations in Chapter 1 : First, every human being on this earth holds a strange belief—that he ought to behave in a certain way—and he cannot seem to rid himself of that belief. Second, in practice, people do not live according to that standard.  He develops his argument by firmly establishing the idea of a “Law of Human Nature,” “Moral Law,” or a “Rule of Right Behavior.” We all understand well what it means to be stimulated by instincts such as maternal love, sexual instinct, or appetite. It means we feel a strong desire or urge to act in a certain way. (...) But feeling a desire to help someone and feeling that we ought to help—whether we want to or not—are very different things. He emphasizes that moral law is not merely a simple impulse but a kind of directive or command that tells us whether to follow or resist that impulse. The core of moral law...
Read more

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis) 01 - To Begin

Image
  By the time I had read 166 pages—roughly 48.8% of the total 340 pages—I already felt an urgent need to pause. Even while continuing with the rest, I felt compelled to start organizing what I had read so far. Throughout the book, C.S. Lewis’s insights often burst forth unexpectedly, leaving me in awe, accompanied by fleeting reflections. Before those highly volatile fragments disappeared, I felt the need to preserve them as much as possible. That sense of urgency constantly urged me on, for Lewis’s message was powerful and invigorating. Was this man really once an atheist? It wasn’t until his early thirties that he converted to theism. In the latter half of his 65-year life , he made significant contributions as a Christian apologist, writer, and essayist. He was a storyteller who, having spent the first half of his life in his own world and the second in God’s, “understood God with reason, and felt and expressed Him through imagination.” While reading Mere Christianity, even as I...
Read more