Humming...

My weekend supremely trumped last weekend by a bajillion.

I finally got into the woods! HECK YES! (I know, I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing me talk about my beloved woods… too bad…) And it was absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine. Colorful trees. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Hammock. Stars.

Ahhh, the luxurious-ness of being away from people.

So, what does one do in the woods by themselves?

Well…

I hiked about 19 miles on Saturday. I just kept moving. I didn’t really want to stop. It was like my body’s way of releasing so much tension from the past couple months and the only way to satisfy the craving for relaxation was… more hiking! (ba dum…chink!) And the only way to keep myself from getting spooked was just to exhaust myself to the point of collapsing at the end of the day so I wouldn’t worry about being mauled by a large beastly animal. This is very much a true statement.

And what do I think about with that much ‘me’ time?

This is the cool part.

Everything and nothing. First, random life-happenings start shooting through my brain, (my worries and cares of my life and the people I love) but I acknowledge each thought and throw it out of my head. Really. That is what happens. It’s a funneling process of de-bulking the heavy load of regular life from my mind, not forgetting about it, but dealing with each item and letting them go.

When everything channels through, (it doesn’t take as long as you think) that is when the humming starts. The real beautiful music of the woods. You can hear SO much stuff! By letting go of those intermittent real life thoughts, nothing clogs the beautiful music of nature. It’s incredible. I know I sound like a hippie-dippie-tree-hugger… but it’s so true.

It’s when I feel most connected to what God is really asking of me here on earth. I cannot change what goes on in my life from day to day nor can I change other people’s lives from day to day. And when I finally get myself into the trees, and release the tension of what I am trying to fix on my own, I get the best sense of ‘giving it up’ to Him. For He is the one who has my best interests in mind with every decision that is made.

Pretty sweet, right?

That is why I love the woods. They always bring me back to Jesus.