The Forest Speaks, Is Anyone Listening?

The people hiking through the MacRitchie trails for recreation often bring their problems with them. What an irony. Chatting loudly as they walk past, one can’t help but overhear their worries about their job, their colleague, their boss, etc. One man used his mobile to talk business in Mandarin to his colleague in China!

Others walk alone, but with grim faces, determined to complete their 10,000 steps or whatever goal they’ve set for themselves.

Except for a few pockets here and there, there is little joy in the groups I’ve come across. And fewer still pause to admire the beauty in the forest.

I prefer to walk to a different drummer, and let the forest speak, recording my experience in photographs if possible. Here are a few shots I’ve taken:

Stairway to heaven

“Peace, be still.”

“Fish of every kind” — a big, beautiful black one swims placidly in the shallows

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6)
How long did it take for this tree to have such beautiful lines?

May we pause long enough to hear what the forest is saying.

A Season of Quiet

I have been cutting down from social media activities since the beginning of this month, and it has led to an increasingly greater quietness within. I don’t know how long this season will last — the last time God led me into this, it was for 10 years — but I’m enjoying it. I wonder if this is a little of how the saints of old felt when they retreated into the cells of their monasteries or into their caves to seek Him.

“A little” as I’m not living the ascetic lifestyle they lived, but as I cut down on my activities, I become more aware of how social media saps our soul and distracts us from ourselves. Conversely, as we step away from all the noise, we become aware of the inner stirrings of our heart and so can tend to them; as we tend to them, a greater wholeness and quietness settles within.

Most people I know live in frantic interaction with others and pay scant attention to their own selves, and it’s to their loss. Frankly, I think many people don’t want to look at what’s in their heart. But as we do, as we pay attention and tend to our own heart, the reward is peace and quiet within and a greater awareness of the presence of God.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8, ESV)

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(Picture was taken at the Learning Forest, Singapore Botanic Gardens).