Alone in the Woods

    After a big steak lunch today, I decided that I had to get outside and get some exercise and fresh air. It was a very cold, dreary, and heavily overcast day. It looked like it could start raining any minute. It was so overcast that at 4pm it looked like it was already starting to get dark. Not surprisingly, I did not see any other people on the trails. The wind was calm and there was an almost eerie silence in

the woods. The birds were very quite. I only heard a couple of chirps, once or twice. The only wildlife I saw was a brief glimpse of a rabbit as it ran off in the underbrush. I can almost always find some kind of bird, animal, or bug to watch; but it was as if all life had ceased. I sat down on a fallen tree for fifteen minutes and still saw nothing! After an hour I finally gave up on spotting any wildlife and came back to the house.

      Back in the warmth of the house I started thinking about my eventless walk in the woods. Our spiritual walk sometimes parallels my lonely walk in the woods today. There are times in our spiritual life when we don’t see or hear any evidence of God’s work in our lives. We pray and don’t get an answer. We wonder if God is still aware that we are alive. The holiday season can be a particularly lonely time. We can feel as if we are all alone, as I did in the woods today. Actually I knew that there were numerous quantities of birds and wildlife in the woods, even though I did not hear or see any of them. That is the way it is with God. We go through times when we do not see or feel God working in our lives, but we need to remind ourselves that God is always with us regardless of what we feel or experience. If you experience times of loneliness during this holiday season, just remember, God is with you and will never leave you!