Words of Wisdom: Glendo Meditation

Busyness seems to be a way of life, yet summer gives us a way of getting outside and

recreating. A time to relax, refresh, and re-create ourselves. Before we get all wrapped up into

buying school supplies and clothes for our kids and grandkids, before we finish the haying,

before preparing stock for shipping and sale, or whatever else is on your plate, let us take a pause.

Jesus even suggested this to his apostles after their return from a successful mission trip.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in a boat to a deserted place by themselves. Matthew 6:30-32

So, take a pause and rest a while. Get in a boat and find a deserted place, a sacred space, a place to be with God. Sit in that boat and listen to the water lapping against its sides. Relax on a shady lakeside and let the breeze refresh your soul. Listen to the symphony of songs orchestrated by the birds gathered along a stream or river. You may find your peace sitting in a flower garden as the bees are busy among the flowers. Or wonder and awe may fill you as you watch a sunrise or sunset, or pondering life looking at the full moon.

The mountains may be more to your liking, as they were to John Muir. Muir had a unique

perspective about being in the mountains. He said, “Hiking I do not like the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains not hike! Do you know the origin of that word “saunter?” It’s a beautiful word. Back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘to the Holy Land.’ And so they

became known as saint-terre-ers or saunterers. Now the mountains are our Holy Land and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”

So, go. Find your sacred space. And “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

May peace and grace be with you always, Rev’d Tom Ketner