While at Acadia, we spent most of a day hiking Cadillac Mountain. We went up the North Trail to the top. Every few minutes, we would stop, turn around, and look at the view of Bar Harbor and the coastline. This photo was taken at the top. Bar Harbor is just a small collection of white dots with 2 cruise ships.

Making this hike gave me a “Top of the world” feeling. You could also call it a mountaintop experience. I believe these experiences are a recognition of goodness. The goodness of God. Maybe we recognize the goodness in nature. Maybe the goodness in someone else, a stranger even. Or in ourself.

We want to remain in these moments, but that is not possible because life goes on. If you stay on top of the mountain, you’re going to get cold and hungry. And if you stay too focused on the last experience, you might miss the next one.