While running from myself…

My walk – this journey.

Has been perilous at times, had I known that danger lurked at every turn, perhaps I would have been inclined to conduct myself differently.

Sulfur Bank trail in Hawaii.

I’ve learned that life is consistently inconsistent.

 

And until I realized that I was challenging life, instead of studying at its feet and gleaning the lessons that I was being peppered with.

Sauntering in Calvert Cliffs State Park

I wandered about aimlessly, searching… Looking for my path.

But –

I did what was safe, as I stood deafened by the sound of monotony.

Turkey Neck Lighthouse – Elk Neck State Park

I knew that something was missing and I ran like Jonah because it beckoned.  Ignoring it, because fear overwhelmed and governed my actions.

On the shores of North Point State Park

I waited for a sign, but there was no thunderous voice from the clouds to guide me.

I directed my screams, my animus towards the heavens…

Beckoning…

“God, Lord, Yahweh, Abba, Father, Mother, Jesus, divine omnipotence!”

I pleaded…

And often the tears streamed down my face…

Like hot lava, they burned, wiping them away only for them to return with a vengeance.

I demanded for my portion of grace to be dispensed…

And I waited.

Somewhere on the Atlantic.

Somewhere floating on the Atlantic.

Eventually, I tripped…

Into a chasm of humility – and I fell headlong into silence.

On the Patapsco River

I was bewildered – as I tried to make sense of it, the answers eluded me.

Wandering in the Patapsco

I wasn’t lost… But, in the same breath, I didn’t know where I was.

My burdens left me, but I longed for them, simply because I was acclimated to them.

I was drunk, intoxicated with…

Making my way to the Ocean in Calvert Cliffs…

Solace.

So I did the only thing I could do…

The thunderous voice was the sweet sound of solace.

Now… I run towards it.

I bathe in the silence, it is my commune. The stench, the static from the world that I escape from is lost, if only for a couple of hours.

Being made whole is… Priceless.

On the coast of the Chesapeake.

The lushness of the Big Island.

God speaks loudly… Through the proverbial bullhorn of solace…

Cascade Falls.

I can hear clearly, now.

“God doesn’t have to shout, because whispering is enough.”

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Staying true to the focus

Everything that has its start in insignificance.

Runs the risk and indignity of being taken for granted.

Walking along Grays Creek in Calvert Cliffs State Park in Maryland

But…

Staying true to the foundations of what we are. Allows for exponential growth that can and will boggle the mind.

Continuing along Grays Creek.

Accusations of not being majestic enough must fall on deaf ears, if we are to persevere.

The Creek turns into a bog...

Listening to the echoes of self expands the boundaries of what we thought we knew…

Teaching us that we know nothing. Thusly, we grow, gaining in power and influence.

The Creek finds its beauty

When the clarity hits, we are like the torrential current of a stream. Who, what and why would anything dare to deny?

Our undeniable majesty and power, that was there all along. The only tool needed to expose it… Patience.

I listened

I walked with deliberation, my steps were earnest.

I heard nothing, but the sounds of the Bay…

But, I was compelled to stop.

Strangely, there was no fanfare, no applause, no cheering section.

It was only me.

Who bore witness … To divine intervention.

I grinned.

I knelt …

Feeling the cold sand between my fingers as I wrote out my proclamation.

A declaration, a humble acknowledgement.

That receipt of a long elusive gift…

That I’ve longed for …

Ever since I could remember.

So…

I claimed it…

I sat down, smiling contently.

As I pulled it into my orbit.

I’ve never walked alone …

Often… I’ve felt as if I was alone to sort out the conundrum that life saw fit to scatter at my feet.

But… Just when I was resigned to my fate and accepted solitude as my burden, I saw the manifestation of my faith in the distance.

And I took heart in the realization that I wasn’t alone.

Then… I lost the grace that I thought was in my grasp… Crestfallen.

I labored on.. Only to find that you were only leading me to the shores of my potential ripe … With the expectations and the blessings that you mandated me to reap.

You were my lighthouse.

Mother Nature vs. Connectivity to the World at Large – Round 1

Call it a contrived overblown figment of my imagination, but I can say definitively that my communes with nature have had a mentally detoxifying effect on my psyche. I shudder to think of the alternative, had I not discovered the rejuvenating properties of being enveloped in the arms of Mother Nature. Would I be ensconced in a straitjacket; uncontrollably drooling from the side of my mouth, while rhythmically rocking myself back and forth or might I be an incessantly angry individual over the slights that the world routinely doles out?

Our uber-connected existence is a double edged sword, we are forced to engage, compelled to assimilate or otherwise we are left out in the cold. Seemingly, it is the price that we begrudgingly or unwillingly pay for merely existing in the 21^st century.

Many of us; myself included, are at the point of no return. The idea of tossing my Smartphone into the swirling tempest of the waters that I am entranced by has crossed my mind a number of times, but at what cost?

I am tethered to my Smartphone, dare I say that I am not as smart as I would like to think I am without its quad core processor at my disposal. Sadly, I can’t recall much of anything… From upcoming meetings with clients; phone numbers; email addresses for family members, let alone my statistics from my most recent workout.

The million dollar question is this… Are we better human beings for all of the efficiency that technology provides us or are we less human because of it? Dare I say that social media is an oxymoron? As it is the contention of many people that it makes us less social in many instances. We fix our gaze on the screen of our Smartphone’s more intimately than we do our fellow human beings, often we won’t even bother to acknowledge a person within our immediate radius, merely because it is too labor intensive to fire up our vocal cords.

Our technology has a duality in that it has become the proverbial link to our livelihood and in some respects, our identity.

But, as I ponder the answers to these questions and others, the sights, sounds, scent, touch and taste of Mother Nature wipes my mental slate clean… And I scuttle into the escape that is Nature and allow the lull of the water mercifully drown that which was weighing on me and everything is back in balance; at least for now.

rl

Water giving me a piece or is it peace of mind?

The rejuvenating powers of water are often taken for granted, ignored or not even considered a factor. Just being in the presence of it has provided me with more clarity on many of the issues that I found myself grappling with at the time throughout my life.

These pictures feature some of the most serene dumping grounds for the problems that have saw fit to cross my path, only to be drowned in the depths, thankfully.

North Point Park

Rocks State Park

Gunpowder Falls – Sweathouse Area

Susquehanna Valley, a view of the Chesapeake

Being soothed by the streams in Gunpowder Falls

My travels down the neck of the Susquehanna