it feels kinda cool to not answer your mobile phone. to prioritize living in the moment above whatever it is whoever it is on the line wants from you. if just for a few hours, or a day, or a weekend. it's cool to go spend time outside doing nothing in particular, enjoying spring, bearing witness to new life, being a guest of the woodland creatures, breathing in air that doesn't make you want to stop breathing. it's a blessing to stop. and just listen. and hear songs in the languages of all those animals and insects, seen and unseen, in the trees, bushes, and even the streams. i need to get out more often and surround myself with green. i'm thankful for my houseplants, but their beauty pales in comparison to the foliage in woods that glistens with the remnants of morning dew. there is a peace that comes from being outside, tuning your eye and your ear to the life around you. there's a special whimsy involved in watching two moths greet each other without using e-mail, or following the erratic flight pattern of a butterfly who doesn't seem to have an appointment to get to, or sneaking a good look at a bunny who doesn't care if you're his voyeur... as long as you don't get too close and respect his space! i am a city kind of girl. but i think you can take my ancestor's child out of the woods, but you can't take their love for the woods out of me - something in me pulls me back, now and again, to visit and linger and reflect and appreciate what God made out there. it's enough to make you realize how useless and time-consuming some other activities are...
|