Yesterday I got back from a really wonderful and simple activity with our young men's quorum. We went to an Airbnb by antelope Island, stayed for one night, got up early for a sunrise, then hiked, hit the visitor center and headed home.
The beauty of all this was and it's simple, low pressure, low urgency, nature. We ate sandwiches that we made, green beans from a can, and mac & cheese from the box. The Airbnb had nothing special about it, the bedrooms weren't decorated, all the walls were white, the space wasn't big, or filled with fun things (or even much furniture). The games we played were simple. The jokes we told were mild. The visitor center was nice. The conversations we had were pleasant. Nothing was designed to be novel or extravagant. It was simple… and beautiful! We all felt connected to each other simply by being together, and having a shared experience!
There was a moment after the sun had risen where the landscape had homogenous, gentle colors; beige with gray blue, not much contrast either. It was simple and it was beautiful. One of the young men pointed this out to me. You could barely discern the sky from the great Salt Lake, and the lake from the land. It was simple and it was beautiful!
I think that the simple is too often equated with boring, lame or lackluster, and therefore treated like it has no value. Some of my favorite moments revolve around "simple." This is definitely one of those experiences for me that I hope to remember.
Get out and do something simple and beautiful with the people you care about!
*There was a pretty great moment where a buffalo looked at us, looked away, looked back and took a dump 💩 while staring at us... got a good shot of that 😆.
