From Thoreau’s Walden:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. 

Today, after fellowship with some of the saints, I grabbed one of my hiking poles and, in boots and with a heavy heart, took to the woods. Like Thoreau, I longed to just listen, to learn, to be sensitive. The Lord spoke through His creation. Below are some images and sounds with which I was blessed:

Encouragement: I do not know who reads these, but perhaps you, too, find yourself at times in need of a reminder that God is bigger than our trials, that God is near to the brokenhearted, that God is near to all who call on Him in truth. If that’s you, be encouraged, dear ones. God sees all, dear ones. And He is good.