It has been a little more than a year since we moved into our present home and 3 months since I hung out the hammock in our backyard. I put it up between the old pool fence and the great big gum tree in the middle of the garden. This tree is at least 2 human armspans in girth and tapers quite a bit as it goes majestically into the sky.
I've always wanted to have a hammock in my backyard. But it was only here in my current home that both the weather and space collaborated to make it a reality. Our hammock is by no means big. In fact it looks downright puny in our garden. However all my kids manage to pile up into it and then have loads of fun tumbling off and clambering on repeatedly.
Last week, for the first time in 3 months I actually found the time and opportunity to lie in my hammock myself. As I lay there, gently swaying in the breeze and gazing at the sky above through the branches of the gum tree, I felt an indescribable sense of lightness. Each caress of the breeze whooshed my cares away and each sway of the hammock rocked me into more groundedness. Grounded in myself yet I felt supremely free and light.
It was as if in those few moments something supernaturally beautiful was happening before my very eyes. It was happening through something as simple and beautiful as being one with nature.As I lay there it slowly dawned on me that our good Lord has put the solution to every care and burden in our lives, just where we can reach them. We just have to look to his blissful creation around us. When we find the time to commune with nature we acquire the grace to wash our every care away.
Every human person has this great deep need for solitude and quietness in their lives. Unfortunately as a race we daily step farther and farther away from quietness. We have grown so afraid of solitude that we fill our every waking moment with music or information. We find ourselves unplugging for fewer and shorter periods each day and most days none at all. This eats into our spiritual and well-being reserves and renders us increasingly less capable to cope with lifes pressures.
If like I did that day, we each could take some time out of our busy schedules to do nothing but observe nature around us, to hear the sounds and see the sights of the wonderful bounty that surrounds us, maybe, just maybe , our lives would be freer and happier than it is actually now.
I've always wanted to have a hammock in my backyard. But it was only here in my current home that both the weather and space collaborated to make it a reality. Our hammock is by no means big. In fact it looks downright puny in our garden. However all my kids manage to pile up into it and then have loads of fun tumbling off and clambering on repeatedly.
Last week, for the first time in 3 months I actually found the time and opportunity to lie in my hammock myself. As I lay there, gently swaying in the breeze and gazing at the sky above through the branches of the gum tree, I felt an indescribable sense of lightness. Each caress of the breeze whooshed my cares away and each sway of the hammock rocked me into more groundedness. Grounded in myself yet I felt supremely free and light.
It was as if in those few moments something supernaturally beautiful was happening before my very eyes. It was happening through something as simple and beautiful as being one with nature.As I lay there it slowly dawned on me that our good Lord has put the solution to every care and burden in our lives, just where we can reach them. We just have to look to his blissful creation around us. When we find the time to commune with nature we acquire the grace to wash our every care away.
Every human person has this great deep need for solitude and quietness in their lives. Unfortunately as a race we daily step farther and farther away from quietness. We have grown so afraid of solitude that we fill our every waking moment with music or information. We find ourselves unplugging for fewer and shorter periods each day and most days none at all. This eats into our spiritual and well-being reserves and renders us increasingly less capable to cope with lifes pressures.
If like I did that day, we each could take some time out of our busy schedules to do nothing but observe nature around us, to hear the sounds and see the sights of the wonderful bounty that surrounds us, maybe, just maybe , our lives would be freer and happier than it is actually now.
