An Afternoon In Love

Yesterday afternoon, I went on another hiking excursion. This time, I fell in love.

Oren and I spent the afternoon walking the Greenbelt Corridor trail of Ray Roberts State Park, in the most perfect weather anybody could have imagined.

Words can hardly describe how I felt, walking the miles on this gorgeous forested path, quietly away from all distraction, with only the occasional bicyclist or dog walker for company.

Even in the winter months, the heart of the "dead" season here in North Texas, this place was beautifully green. Pictures hardly do it justice. The bare trees left room for sunlight to reach the forest floor and provide nourishment for bright green grasses to flourish and provide a beautiful emerald carpet throughout the acres of country.

 Looking up, every now and then, we caught a glimpse of bright white Aspen trees, growing tall and strong, swaying gracefully in the breeze.

We sat on perfect tree stumps and imagined forested tea parties that could take place. We climbed on dead logs and walked along the river. We ran for a stretch and enjoyed the sheer beauty we passed by. We took a rest on a little grassy area and saw hawks flying silently and calmly overhead.

I hugged the largest trees I could find and adored feeling their strength.

I imagined bringing my journal and Bible out there for a quiet afternoon of meditation, and relished the thought of taking a picnic out to one of the perfect little clearings just off the path.

I imagined placing a grand piano in one of those clearings, and playing beautiful music in the sheer center of the gorgeous forest.

As I said, over and over, I could spend my life out there. I could go there daily and never get bored. I feel that my soul was renewed, one step at a time, one tree after another.

I have no doubt that I need the natural world, especially after being so fulfilled by an afternoon spent in rapturous beauty.

As Richard Louv puts it so well,  "a reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health, well-being, spirit, and survival.” 

I can't wait to go back! 

I thank you God for this most amazing day, 

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, 

and for the blue dream of sky 

and for everything which is natural, 

which is infinite, which is yes.

- e.e. cummings