As some of you know, I spent eight days earlier this month, writing at my “cabin in the woods.” That is always a sacred and contemplative time for me, drawing nearer to God in hopes of hearing him whisper yet again. Indeed, He didn’t disappoint.
With several inches of hearty snowflakes blanketing the woods, I – and my intrepid sheltie, Cody – trudged there daily, crunching the snow, listening to whispers through the limbs. While the forest drew quiet, whispers echoed in the spaces between the rugged trunks and limbs. It is a voice that I’ve heard before…
In those awe-struck moments, closing my eyes, breathing and listening, I become… illumined. It’s the only word I have for it. And it’s not my first brush with the mystical; but without acknowledging God, anything else I say would fail to honor the experience, and be a complete lie. Cody felt it, too. Twice, his keen nose and ears took over his senses, and he scoured the forest for the life force dwelling there…apparently, at one point, thinking he’d found it atop an ancient oak. Who am I to say he didn’t?
As a boy, I traversed my father’s forest, falling asleep – sometimes, for hours – in my “cathedral,” listening for the voice. I listen, still. Once you hear that voice, you are forever changed.
In my life, what I have learned from and about forests is:
1. Time becomes slower
2. Spirits abound
3. Relics of our bodies are sacred; of our souls, divine.
Embracing the moment on the first early evening after a full snowfall, I returned to the cabin, snatched my journal, and wrote a poem. In truth, it was already written in my brain, well before putting pencil to paper. I glanced at Cody; he was staring at me, the way he often does when he knows I’ve “left the building.” Indeed, I was transported, spiritually and mentally. A walk in the woods on the first evening after a snowfall is a mystical experience, unlike any other.
May you come to know this experience personally. May it illumine you. May you illumine others…through these gifts that are meant to be shared and experienced.
Peace. Shalom.
