Helmer Noland Trail

On the Sunday before leaving for Thanksgiving break, I decided to take a trip out to the Noland, before the sunset on the beautiful evening. It was about 45 minutes before the sun was about to set, and I found myself just sitting there looking around. I was planning to go on a walk through the trail to hopefully just relax and get my mind off of everything going on, but the music I had playing definitely was distracting me from everything else around me. I wasn't paying attention to much, except for the many dogs who were walking past me. Once I was about fifteen minutes into the walk, I decided to turn off my music, and instead, take everything else in that was going on around me. Once it was silent outside, all I could hear was the ruffling of the leaves in the trees as they were blowing in the wind, and the sound of people walking past me. After a while, I didn't see anyone else out on the trail, so I was then able to stop in my tracks for a moment and look at everything around me. The colors of Autumn were painted all around me and it was an amazing feeling. I felt truly excluded from the world around me and it was a feeling like no other. I felt like God had placed me in this specific spot, just so I could experience this feeling. I really needed this short getaway from the outside world, and I was finally understanding the power God has over us and I was shown the gift of creation and kenosis through him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lett- Own topic- #1

In reflection of the Pacific Crest Trail video, it's amazing to me how united every hiker seems to be. Once you're on the trail it's as if you are apart of a separate universe. In the normal universe, people are labeled by class or what job they have, but on the trail everyone is of equal status and is treated as human. It's beautiful. I loved listening to what motivated each one of the hikers to finish their journey and i loved seeing the reactions once they did reach the end. While i am not sure if i would be able to go on such a journey, videos like this definitely make one get motivated to complete a big task like this. The other thing that fascinated me was that while it seemed many of the hikers were united and taking this trip together, each journey is specific in it's own right. That is what interests me so much about the idea of Long distance hiking. It's very relateable to our everyday walk of life; we all have people we encounter over the course of ou...
Read more

Roberts Phenomenology of Prayer

In chapter three of Phenomenology of Prayer, there are a few paragraphs on to whom a prayer is addressed. It says in the first paragraph, that the people who pray address their prayers to the divine and then wait for a response. So where do the prayers go? The prayers go to God or the divine and then God or the divine sends forth an answer. In another paragraph, a prayer is related to an artist and their painting. Sometimes an artist paints with a specific audience or person in mind. Sometimes it is a gift for a specific person. Other times, the artist paints without an audience. Or, the painter has someone in which they are painting for but does not disclose it. This is related to prayer because sometimes a person prays with a specific target in mind but other times, they are unsure of who the target should or can be. This metaphor was helpful in the understanding of to whom a prayer is addressed.
Read more

Phenomenology of Prayer#1

The first chapter of this book focuses on prayer with a decentered self. I think that this is necessary when it comes to praying seriously. When praying you are talking to a higher being. A being that you believe is more powerful than you. So you shouldn't be focused on yourself when you pray but your relationship to whatever you're praying towards. If you think of yourself while you're praying it defeats the purpose of praying.
Read more