Restoring my soul

The past five days I have wandered through the highways and byways; past the rivers and streams of the southland of New Zealand’s South Island.  I travelled with my husband, who is a keen fisherman; so much of our sojourn revolved around trout streams, always in silence and often separate and alone.

I was like a kid in a candy store, trying to choose the best scene to photograph.  Almost every turn in the road greeted us with another breathtaking view.  That’s a funny term ‘breath taking’!  But, you do take a long deep breath as if drawing in the beauty and the magnificence of the sight in front of you.  It helps when the air is so pure. (Although in my husband’s case the grass seed has been playing havoc with his hay fever and allergies.)

There is something deeply restorative about wandering in nature.  Richard Ryan, an author of a study in the benefits of nature wrote ‘nature is food for the soul’ and is good for our psychological and physiological states.   I can testify to that this week and I believe some of the photographs I have shared have evoked a similar response in others. 

Visiting the lakes, the rivers, the forests and the mountains of New Zealand evoked a sense of awe and wonder. Some moments I found myself responding with a song of worship about God’s majesty.  This is His creation and glorious handiwork.  He is the Creator of this majestic creation that we call nature. 

Yesterday, I was stopped in my tracks along a path when I heard the most unusual bird call.  Alongside of me and perched in a shrub was a warbling Tui, a New Zealand bird with the most unique bird call.  I stood for minutes in wonder as the bird repeated his song as if especially for me.

‘By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power…and the mystery of his divine being.” (Romans 1: 20 MSG).  Terms like magnificent, majestic, awesome, breathtaking, wondrous, amazing are words that only touch on that divine mystery and eternal power behind the creation of nature. 

John Muir, the Scottish born American naturalist recommends a week in the woods or mountains to wash your spirit clean.  He also said “Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness.  All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter. (John Muir, July 1888) 

As I write this, I am in a Queenstown motel with a downtown full of hustle and bustle where tourists hang out. A place with dust and hotels and baggage and chatter. And while I am still looking out over a beautiful mountain and lake, it is not the same as the quietness of the places where I have just come from. I miss the encounter with the divine reflected in the majesty of the natural world.  I am hungry for more food for my soul.  Perhaps next time, I will be brave to wander alone on one of those well marked New Zealand wilderness trails and leave some more of my baggage behind.