Can I do both? I think so. I start out at a fast clip just to keep warm. I feel energized and happy, my endorphins flowing. I feel great! But to be honest, at this pace, I only see what’s right in front of me and my mind wanders to what to make for dinner. Maybe this is a good time to slow down. Actually the timing is perfect because I’m approaching the secret pond you see in this photo. I call it “secret” because so few ever see it. I rarely meet another human on this trail.

So here I am, surrounded by Nature in the late autumn light. I don’t want to hurry or think about dinner. I look around me and realize it’s impossible to be alone in the woods. I’m welcome here. And so I whisper thank you as I soak in the last of the sun’s warmth on my cold face. I kick up the leaves under my feet, and climb over and under and around the fallen branches and tree trunks that reroute me on my way home. And feeling bold and energized, I call out my thanks to all who are listening.

Back home, I wonder…did I take one walk today or two?

The post A Walk in the Woods appeared first on Living Upward.

When I was growing up I would help my grandfather pick his carefully tended raspberries early in the morning. I would feel them in my mouth, still wet and juicy from the morning dew. So many years later I can still step outside early on a summer morning and be right back in his garden.

We have a garden too, with sunflowers hovering over the blueberry patch and hollyhocks tumbling against the walls of our shed. Raspberries and squash, peas and beans, apples and peaches all grow together in worm-filled soil, dense with compost and weeds! Bees hum, rabbits scamper, and birds sing us awake every morning. This is the community my husband and I inhabit all summer long.

I’ve come to appreciate that Summer’s success is a group endeavor and no one succeeds alone. Plants, birds, insects, and I flourish in our shared community through our relationships with one another. And the key is that all of these relationships are reciprocal. The honey bee savors the nectar from the flower, and in turn spreads the plant’s pollen across the land. The squash leaves grow big and wide, protecting from the sun the small insects and worms making room for the squash roots to spread. And, like my grandfather, I plant and I weed. I pick fresh raspberries right from the vine. And, in return, the raspberries bear fruit again. We all give and receive in a never-ending cycle. And to participate means that all of us will thrive.

Summer puts on an abundant display with a wild, creative, productive cast of characters, all doing their part in crafting a community of reciprocal relationships that, together, lift up the whole of Creation. This summer, let Nature show us the way.

This post is excerpted from Bountiful Summer, a selection from my book, After Rain.

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