Ten years ago, I purchased the property I now reside on. It was a blessing from God, and He gave me the desire of my heart: a place out in the country with its own creek and back roads to walk and pray.
I have always been a nature lover, and living in the city has its limitations when it comes to fully enjoying nature. I yearned for those simple times as a child growing up in the rural farming community in Ohio. Those days of playing in the creek called Patton’s Run, especially on those hot summer days. Running through cornfields, chasing fireflies, and putting them in mason jars.
While on college breaks, I found myself still taking long walks on those familiar paths alongside the creek and the nearby woods.
My appreciation for nature was born of my love for reading, and it was my high school English teacher, Mrs. Merz, who introduced me to Walden Pond, Thoreau, and Emerson.
Before High school, living next to a creek, I lived near a woods with a small pond and a large tree in the middle. With the spring rains, it would fill up, and I would walk around it gathering tadpoles. As spring gave way to summer, the pond would dry up. So when I began to read Thoreau’s writing, I tried to visualize myself living at that pond. Of course, we know the pond was much larger than the one from my childhood.
I found it fascinating that a man would leave the comforts of life, deciding to spend a few years living on a pond with very few possessions. He builds a small cabin, grows beans for income, spends long hours reading, walking, and reflecting, and keeps detailed notes on the natural world. His experiment becomes a critique of society's obsession with wealth and busyness, and a celebration of the solitude, mindfulness, and the spiritual value of nature. After two years, he returns to society, believing he has learned to live more deliberately.
While reading Thoreau and Emerson’s work, I was more focused on their connection to nature and its inspiration than on their connection to spiritual truth. I had no desire to delve deeper into the fuller insights of the transcendentalism movement that these men had become known for.
Over the years, I have often reflected, especially on Thoreau’s writings, and have longed to find my own Walden Pond, whether a lake, river, or even a creek. This happened almost a decade ago when I purchased my very own portion of a creek, Hookers Creek.
Once I purchased the property, I quickly built a small deck near the creek. It was meant to be my place of solitude, a place to pray, watch nature, and journal. Over the years, I have spent nearly a thousand hours sitting and walking along the creek and nearby roads. Now that this is my permanent home, I can spend even more time on the creek and view and reflect from my study overlooking Hookers Creek.
I have journaled many thoughts and specific words given to me by the Holy Spirit.
My camera has been close by my side as well, capturing the in-the-moment moments when nature presents itself.
It has been said that if you want to know the mind of God, observe nature. He created it all, thus revealing something of His nature, being, and thoughts.
Sadly, most Christians fail to take the time to enjoy nature and all its glory; they have become too busy looking at what is in their hands, something artificial, a time-stealer. Scrolling and tapping, looking down instead of up and around.
I trust you will be inspired, informed, and challenged as you read past and present musings from the Creekside, Hookers Creek.
