Why nature is so healing

     So, I've had a really rough couple of days.  Out of nowhere a panic attack hit that lasted for over two days and left me questioning whether or not I was literally having a heart attack.  I started feeling a bit better this morning, but, also like it could go one of two ways.  I could stay inside where I could feel it starting to grip me again or I could get out and into some nature.  Have you ever noticed, at night, after you turn off everything, how you can still hear a hum.  It's not truly quiet, there is a base level of white noise that's always there.  I think it's the same way for our minds and our souls.  When our minds and our souls are troubled and broken, there is all this white noise that we often create ourselves.  No stillness, no silence, no peace.  Sometimes life can feel like something that happens to us instead of something which we experience.  That's part of the reason I think it's so good to get outside.  To leisurely move through the quiet spaces in the world and experience what each of us needs.

The Quiet Path

 

     Sometimes, we just need to be present in the moment.  Truly present, not distracted, not worrying, just experiencing.  God speaks and heals in the stillness, and the quiet.  He wants our souls to be at peace. 

Always on a journey

     We are always on a journey.  Sometimes our feet take us to places we'd rather not go.  Sometimes to places of joy and beauty.  No matter what storms are swirling around you, sometimes you just need to kick up your feet, close your eyes, and listen to the wind.  

Stopping to smell the flowers is essential

        There is so much joy, beauty, love, and things to appreciate all around us.  If we don't stop to realize it, we'll miss it.  Blinded by this or that, we think and truly feel we are alone, unloved, uncherished.  I think we have to challenge our thinking and ask ourselves many important questions.  Who have we kept company and showered our affection and friendship on?  Who have we shown our tenderest love to?  Who have we let known, in our lives, how much they are cherished and appreciated?  Have we let God show us his love?  Those handful of flowers, are all the goodness and love we have to give.  What flowers are we spreading to others in our lives.  Sometimes the most beautiful bouquets are received when we give all we have.

Holding hands is essential so we don't fall

     None of us were meant to be alone.  We are called to be in community with each other.  To have someones hand to hold as we navigate through life.  We just have to remember take hold of each other and allow God to work through us and through others He brings into our life.

It's all about Love

     It's all about love.  Everything.  To will and want the best for the people in our lives.  To work our hardest to get each other to heaven.  To have a servants heart.  Showing love in a glance, a smile, a gesture.  Trust me, you'll remember those moments of love.  You'll cling to them in the darkness.  You'll learn how essential love is to the human person as oxygen and breathing.

You learn to bring the fun back

 

          We can't take life too seriously or we'll miss 99.9% of it.  Seriously.  Laugh, smile, enjoy the funny.  Don't be too focused on your sufferings.  Those sufferings pass, and so do all the joy filled moments.  Don't miss the joy because of the suffering.

It's all about this

      Our hearts are carried around on the outside of our body through our loved ones.  Be they our spouse, children, friends, whomever.  Anxiety,  is that horrible storm, that's so strong, it can sweep your legs out of underneath you.  It humbles you because you realize just how fragile we all actually are.  Fragile, beautiful, "fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14  Remember, you are more precious than you know.