Where I find God

By JGM

I believe that our soul resides both inside and outside our body. The soul and consciousness are connected, but different. That the soul can be damaged, and for some, that damage is irreparable.

That our souls must be nourished.

My source of nourishment is often the great outdoors. It is there that I connect with both the physical and the spiritual realm.

In the fall, there is nothing more glorious than seeing the last gasp of the dying leaves in all their glory; the metallic array of swaths of color, the last hurrah of the year’s exuberant growth.

---

This week, as I rode through the forest on our land, I contemplated what it means to connect with God.

When we are home, it is almost a daily ritual to saddle up Jade, my eleven-year-old stallion, and do a little arena work, using that time as a warm-up to focus on our various complex dressage movements. Technical riding is a form of meditation in and of itself. To dance with a horse, one must mind-meld. Each seemingly insignificant weight shift, hand movement, turn of the shoulder, pressure of the calf - all work with the horse to dance together. He freely gives his mind and body to direction. Athletes working together to create something beautiful.

But about fifteen minutes of this intensity is about all that we can stand. We are both anxious to get outside and into the woods. We head out into the forest and fields to explore. Just he and I. The most trusted equine companion that I have ever had the honor of owning, if that word even applies. Partnering may be a better way to express this.

Sometimes I just drop the reins and let him decide where we are going to go, as his ears flick before and aft - listening, processing, and just being in the moment with me. He likes to shamble along, exploring the path that lies before us. This is where I find my inner peace, and I like to think he does too. In a forest I know well, surrounded by a vast ecosystem for which I am one tiny fragment.

Where my tiniest word or smallest movement connects with his mind, and that is all the language we need. It is as if my mind and his connect at a level beyond words or commands. He just knows, as do I, where we want to go.

Those rides become a dreamlike state, where the creator feels palpable. It is these journeys into the wilderness that I most often sense God. A feeling, a whiff, of something bigger than me; a consciousness, a mystery which I will never understand in this life.

Sometimes, I wander in the back woods of our farm - no horse needed, and that dreamlike state can overcome me then, too. That sense of purpose that we are all in this together, and that the world, this universe, is more than we know, and that there is more to us than this life. It just hasn’t been revealed yet.

I refuse to accept that we are merely random DNA fragments, chaotically woven together into a framework that has evolved over time into what we consider life’s organized hierarchy. Instead, my heart and my soul tell me there is a creator. There is something more, and we are all part of a greater plan.

I am not a community person by nature. Many of us aren’t. Just like so many others, I don’t seek solace in the company of many people. Church, with its messages of hope, charity, and love, resonates with me. But being in a room praying and seeking spiritual guidance with many people is slightly uncomfortable, as I am a shy person by nature. My sanctuary lies in the earth beneath my feet.

Wherever you find God, whether it be inside a church or outside - surrounded by nature, that connection should be nurtured and cherished, and each person's journey is unique. Finding your own path is part of this life.

For me, God - in all his glory- has given us a wonderland. That mysterious forest is my spiritual advisor and mentor.

---

---

---

---

---

---

May all of you have a blessed and glorious day, as I intend to do.