ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
There’s an ordinary pine grove located on a tree farm not too far from town where life’s stresses and demands seem to melt away. It is here that all that seemed so important out there no longer is and one can get lost in the rows of trees and majestic beauty. God is here and all is good. We need to connect with the Divine Source of all that is in order to understand what it is we are doing and why we are doing it. Otherwise, things stop making sense and bitterness can overcome one’s spirit. It’s okay to play once in a while and to discover that place of profound life and peace. People always have needs and there is constantly something to do. And while all of that is necessary and we are needed, there is also that inner solitude within that needs to be celebrated and released.
We all need a pine grove. It’s that little place we can go and leave all that consumes us behind. It’s a place where technology can be set aside and wonder, and awe given some time. We don’t have to text, calculate, or orches-trate anything in the pine grove. It is a somewhat deserted place where all of that can be set aside and we can just be. The anger, frustration, exhaustion, discouragement, helplessness, and occasional apathy, all can fall to the ground like all of those pine needles that once held their place on the branch of a Frasier Fir. The needles can let go. We can let go. We are beings con-nected with Being and we all need to remember what really matters, who really matters and what life is truly all about. We need to find that place where we can rest and let go of all of the barnacles we accumulate. Rest, breathe, seek, and love.
The world will need us again when we leave the pine grove. It will all be waiting for us, beckoning for our attention. But we will have prayed and will have marveled at the silence and the beauty of goodness. We can go back, ready, and eager to listen, to help, to heal, to cry, to embrace, and attend to all that is asked of us. But, having let go of the distractions in that deserted place we will have a renewed sense of purpose. We will know better Who it is we serve and what we are meant to do. It will all be clearer now that we have been Divinely touched and refreshed.