Today’s author is Intentional Interim Pastor Steve Sylvester.
I’m a “free range” writer. I struggle to stay inside the fence lines. So, confining myself to a theme is a difficult thing for me, because I often find myself attracted by a patch of grass “over there” instead of the one I have been assigned to feed on. So, today I am going to straddle our most recent theme—Creation—and our current theme—Be still and know that I am God.
I have done a number of canoe, backpack and bike trips. Most of them have been a week or shorter, but a good number have been longer than that, extending even to 35 days on trail. On each of my longer trips, I have experienced the same thing around day seven or eight, a feeling that I am no longer a visitor, that I am a part of the environment through which I am paddling, walking or riding. When I reach that point, the point of being an animal among animals, I find I am open, receptive, ready to listen and hear.
The more we distance ourselves from the rest of creation, the less human we become. I truly believe that. Don’t get me wrong, I love technology, and I enjoy the comforts of our modern world, but I believe we lose an essential part of ourselves when we do the mental thing of God, Humanity, Creation. And when we lose that essential part of ourselves, it’s much more difficult to be still and simply exist in God’s presence.
Back in 2012 I did a summer-long sabbatical, the first six weeks of which were spent first paddling solo in the BWCA, and then linking up with a friend to paddle Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. My theme for those six weeks was a quote from the runner George Sheehan: “First, be a good animal.” In other words, start by grounding yourself in who you are created to be.
I hope you have a place, actual or mental, where you can first be a good animal, where you can ground yourself in who you actually are. And in the stillness of that place or that space, take time simply to be. Open your mind, your heart, your ears and simply be in God’s presence.