Took a walk in the woods today. It was a crisp 21 degrees and the sun was sinking low when I started down the snowy trail. I love walks in the quiet woods, and on a day like today, I only encountered a man with two eager dogs, feet furiously churning the snow as they yanked their owner’s arms in opposite directions down the trail. Walks in solitude on brisk days are good. They clear out the cobwebs from the mind, open up the nasal passages and get the blood circulating around the body. So the mile or two that I walked was good. It’s the end of the year – and thoughts about what 2013 will bring run through my heads – plans, goals, dreams, thoughts all churn about. There’s that old Waterdeep/Worship Circle song that is a kind of mantra to me — “You’re calling me to lay aside the worries of my day; To quiet down my busy mind and find a hiding place…” — frequently running through my head. So that’s where I go — to the woods, where it is quiet. To seek the Lord, to walk, to enjoy creation. To breathe in and out and know that the Lord is with me.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.