I crossed the river eying the chain bridge at night for the last time a few hours ago. I thought back to my first viewing of that magnificent sight - it is still just as beautiful, just as breath taking. There are some things that hold beauty in a way that it can never be nullified, it can never be taken away, never lose its value. I remember crossing that Danube for the first time, I was jetlagged and culture shocked, I was alone and scared and full of adventure. Tonight, I prepare to be jetlagged and reverse culture shocked, I will be alone for two days, I am still full of adventure… but tonight I am not scared. I know that what is ahead is not to be feared because my Lord is walking before me making my path straight. I do fear my Lord, but with a fear of reverence and respect, not a cowering timidity.
How could this city, this foreign nation captivated me so much? A city with a name that few can pronounce correctly and where the culture is so rich, a place that I never knew I wanted to come to. What will I miss about this place? All of it, the things I have done, the way I have grown, the places I have walked, yet for some reason that bridge, that lit chain bridge sums up this whole experience.
I suppose I am walking on a bridge. I have lived in the Lord, fully in him but I needed more, this was the bridge I needed to carry me to the fulfillment of it all. Budapest is one city, but two separate parts, you can live in Pest and be fully in Budapest, but until you cross the bridge and visit both sides of the river, you wont fully experience it. And the light? Well Christ is obviously that light, but he shines through me as well. It is a dark world in which I live and when darkness overwhelms, light becomes gorgeously amazing. I hope to take a lesson from this bridge. It may be the mark of the city and be on all the post cards, but it has good reason to be, it connects two things to make them whole. Just as this DTS connected two parts of my life.
So goodbye chain bridge, goodbye Danube river. Goodbye Budapest, and thank you.
How could this city, this foreign nation captivated me so much? A city with a name that few can pronounce correctly and where the culture is so rich, a place that I never knew I wanted to come to. What will I miss about this place? All of it, the things I have done, the way I have grown, the places I have walked, yet for some reason that bridge, that lit chain bridge sums up this whole experience.
I suppose I am walking on a bridge. I have lived in the Lord, fully in him but I needed more, this was the bridge I needed to carry me to the fulfillment of it all. Budapest is one city, but two separate parts, you can live in Pest and be fully in Budapest, but until you cross the bridge and visit both sides of the river, you wont fully experience it. And the light? Well Christ is obviously that light, but he shines through me as well. It is a dark world in which I live and when darkness overwhelms, light becomes gorgeously amazing. I hope to take a lesson from this bridge. It may be the mark of the city and be on all the post cards, but it has good reason to be, it connects two things to make them whole. Just as this DTS connected two parts of my life.
So goodbye chain bridge, goodbye Danube river. Goodbye Budapest, and thank you.
1 comment:
I can't wait for you to come home. I am so, so glad, though, that you had this experience. And that you will experience more.
This is a good post, Heather. You really succinctly put your thoughts into words. And the pictures, especially the first, captivate the very emotion you are expressing.
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