Into the Woods

When I was in high school my family built a house out in the country on a wooded lot.  There were several acres, all in wood and creek.  Eventually my brothers kept sheep on the wooded acres, but not while I was in high school.  I had a little black poodle and we walked the woods a lot.  I had my favorite spots. 

One favorite spot was the trunk of a large fallen oak tree.  Lightning took it down sometime in my freshman year and the glade it created was full of new life, new trees and bushes and wildflowers.  The trunk was large enough to hide behind, sort of within like inside a maze with bushes and brambles to get around.

I considered that spot holy.  It was a sacred place.  My image of God was less formed than it is today, but when I would go there to that spot, I knew God was there with me.  I would escape with my dog from the friction with my mother and siblings.  I would escape from problems and demands.  I would find serenity and peace in that place.

Sometimes since this virus has kept me homebound and sometimes lonely, but safe, I have gone in my mind to that place in the woods with my dog.  The dog, of course, is long gone.  My family hasn't owned that property for decades. But in my mind, I can sit there with the sun beating down, mosquitoes buzzing in my ears, the occasional tick, and the solid green of the glade.  God was there for me.  I was often alone, but when I was alone back then, I felt safe, out of reach, out of harm's way.

Today I am often alone, lonelier than I would choose to be.  But, I try to remember that safety, that serenity that came from exploring the woods with my dog back when I was a teen.  I don't encounter mosquitoes or ticks as often, but on my deck I have created my own piece of paradise, my own woods, if you will.  My deck is up in the trees and it is easy to imagine that I have gone into the woods.