Tonic for Distracted Living

Woods and water are Northern Minnesota’s tonic for the stress and strain of distracted living.  Crow Wing State Park is a tranquil place on the bluffs of the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers.  The Mississippi River here is only one hundred miles or so from its source at Lake Itasca on its 2, 350 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico.  The River is calm and serene, making it a perfect place for canoeing, eagle watching, and fishing.

The woods above the river include stately pines and oaks.  Quiet trails lead to historical sites of a long-gone trader village and mission churches and schools.  It’s a step back in time, a step back to yourself.

We ventured a little farther north to Star Lake Wilderness Camp, a place where all three of our kids have spent a summer working.  It is one of those places that gets under your skin and into your heart–a place where you meet yourself and God.  The rustic camp buildings were boarded up for the winter with only the memories of laughing campers lingering in the woods.  We walked down to the beach on a sloping path through the towering trees with meadow rue and ferns brushing against our legs.

The lake was beautiful as ever but wilder in its non-summer state with no docks, no canoes, no splashing campers.

The exquisite Water Lily flower floated beside the rain-spotted leaves, not needing an audience or attention or applause in the unveiling of its loveliness.

We walked through the pine forest, a wondrously still and quiet place.  This community of lofty pines amid the fragrant pine needle carpet reminds us that we walk on sacred ground.

And while we see the death of a huge pine like the one above the Mississippi River, we also see the birth of one in a bed of moss and pine needles.

Our distracted living–activities, sports, phones, computers, tvs, video games, shopping, drinking, doing, working, and many more things–can pull us away from knowing who we really are.  The woods and the water can bring us back to ourselves–in all our pain and glory.  It lets us unveil the beauty of ourselves to ourselves, which is the essence of a good and holy life.  It reminds us of death and new life and makes us question where exactly we fit with this community of people living on sacred ground.