Athens – I Don’t Know What I Was Expecting

When you think of Greece, what comes to mind?

Ancient civilizations? Mythology? Philosophy? Socrates and the Stoics? Wars and the Trojan Horse?

I always love traveling to places with history. I longed to travel to Italy for years before I bit the bullet and plunged into a lifelong passion of seeing places I once thought was impossible except from the pages of a book.

When I decided to head to Greece, it wasn’t my first option. I was going to travel to the cheapest flight on a given day.

Nice, France was the cheapest.

I called my family and they were okay with heading to southern France. One sister who started traveling with me a few years ago couldn’t go, and said she had always wanted to go there and asked if I would pick somewhere else to go. We could go to southern France another time all together.

So, my mom and my other sister picked Greece. It’s been on their bucket list. So I booked the flights.

I have always been intrigued with Greece. I love the modern Olympics and the two weeks it engulfs my television. I have never been into mythology, but I love ruins. I love walking around and imagining what people did thousands of years ago in that very spot I stand. There is something mesmerizing about staring at a piece of marble older than everything built in America.

I also find it humbling traveling to places mentioned in the Bible. I recently read portions in Acts that mentioned Paul’s journey to and from Athens. How he spoke to the philosophers and preached the Good News. And I wonder, did he speak to them in the very spot I stood in the Ancient Agora or around the Acropolis? Was I near the place where he tried to reason with them about their unneeded idols?

I wish I had a wonderful story of incredible feelings of emotions. But so far, Athens leaves me feeling blah.

To give you the dirty of Athens, you just have to look around.

It’s dirty. It’s covered in graffiti. Trash lays around the streets. Our hotel is surrounded by nice restaurants and shops, but as I walk around the neighborhood I feel unsafe. Just because of the appearance. It feels rundown and in the projects of Athens. But much of Athens feels that way to me.

What happened? And it seems like they are okay to the destruction. Most buildings throughout have some type of tagging of spray paint, even if it’s nothing but a scribble that appears someone messed up and just walked away.

I think in life, our lives may look like Athens. We worship false idols even if we don’t believe it. We debate and argue with anyone who disagrees with us. We philosophize our opinions and assume we are always right. We are smeared in mess. And it’s like we have given up on hope and walked away.

But the beautiful thing about life is God hasn’t left us. Even though we are a complete mess with our life in complete ruins like the Acropolis or caked in ugly graffiti, He still sees the masterpiece He created. He sees the potential. He sees the image of us coated in grace and mercy.

So even though Athens hasn’t bewildered me, I’ve learned from her.

May we each not live like Athens, but live renewed with hope and a future. Because God can take our ruins and create something beautiful out of them again.

Peace