Visiting or dwelling?

Written while sitting on a rock next to a creek at my first campsite on the Fontana backpacking trip.

We have become a people of visitors instead of dwellers. We go to a place, see what there is to see, then move on to the next place. We treat our experiences in life like a TV show. We watch the church show, the friend show, the Bible show, the prayer show. When the half hour show or the hour and a half show is over, we move on. But something different happens when we dwell. We explore the finer details. we enjoy what is there. We listen, without an immediate expectation. We become a part of that place and allow it to become a part of us.