Teacher: “Are you ready to go?”

Student: “Yes master.”

Teacher: “Then let’s go. Follow me.”

Go outside and claim a stretch of forest. Develop in yourself a love for your forest. Take care of it. When you see a tree leaning or fallen upon another safely lift it off. Clean it of litter. If you find any bones, bury them. In this way, you will learn holiness.

Be silent and observe how your forest is alive. Listen to the tree branches sway in the breeze. Watch the critters move across the ground or through the trees. Sit in the branches and see the roads birds fly upon. Observe their paths and run with the deer. In this way, you will learn awe and respect.

If you remain silent and motionless long enough you will be awarded views many, save the patient hunter, never see. Deer, turkeys, woodchucks, raccoons, possums, and many such creatures will appear and walk among you. In this way, you will learn the value of patience and stillness.

Let the Lord speak to you in your solitude. Create a space that is your sanctuary. Praise Him there in your thoughts and glorify Him for what He has revealed to you that day. In this way, you will learn worship.

May the Lord bless you with an increased depth of perception. May you become enraptured by the wonders He has made. As you witness life, may it purify your own. In this way, you will learn serenity.

On the path of receiving from the Lord, you may be tempted to prove yourself worthy. In my forest, I was. On its entrance, there was a high gateway of fallen branches. I made jumping it a test of my worthiness. Over time the branches fell lower and lower till I was able to simply walk through to enter. Others would not have been able to enter and follow before, but after the gate was opened, the veil was torn, and the way was made clear. In this way, I learned mercy, but not yet the vast richness of the grace of Christ. It was for me a foretaste.

Also on this path of receiving from the Lord, I made a vow. I swore my allegiance before the earth, sky, and sun, my only witnesses, that I would hold true to the Beauty He showed me there in my forest. Though I know Jesus says to not make them, Matthew 5:34, I found that when made as a response to God, they are a lifelong joy. Much like a marriage, I vowed my adherence and faithfulness to Him. I leave this up to whatever seems right to you and your relationship with God. I am only telling you to make you aware, not as a directive. Such vows make a man, but as in Ecclesiastes 5:5, “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”

May the Maker of heaven and earth be ever with you. May you find solace beneath His wings. For surely such joy and peace you find there will be found nowhere else.