When I was a kid, my house was backed by woods. Today, they would call it a greenbelt. We just called it “the woods.” The back half of the yard was wooded, which led to the cliff, which led to May Creek – one big forested backyard.
The wooded part of our yard was a wonderland for a little boy. I knew it like the back of my hand. We had blazed a few paths with the family machete, partly to run our go-cart through it and also so we could reach the edge of the cliff. The rest we left au natural.
I never feared the woods, at least those in the immediate area. Even when I would venture down the cliff, I was fine. The house was just above and the path back up it had enough landmarks that it was easy to find. But there was always the danger of going too deep into the woods – as finding my way back might be difficult, if not impossible.
Still, I would venture into the woods now and then. Never too far and always keeping track of where I was and where I was going. I would often mark the path with bread or bend twigs… the usual things. It was always an adventure and I always found my way back. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this and would have been instead a 1960s headline in the Renton Record Chronicle: “Boy, 10, lost in forest, found dead.”
I returned to the forest over and over in my life. I have always liked roaming through the woods. I didn’t always know where I was, but I somehow always found my way. And I’ve found a lot of comfort in the fact that I, like a cat, end up on my feet.
I am reminded of this because I briefly went for a walk in the woods again this week. It was in a park I had never visited before. Being a Floridian for the past seven years, I haven’t been in the woods much. Even I had, the woods aren’t quite the same there as any Washington forest.
As I meandered above the creek, I thought about the forest and how it can be a scary place to be sometimes. Often there is more than one path you can choose, and with few if any signs, it’s tough to tell where each one leads. Sure, you can go back to where you started, following the same path you took. Few of us do. Instead, we soldier on down the path we choose, never knowing quite where it leads, whether it reconnects with the main road down the way, or leads to a precipice.
In my life, I have taken a lot of wrong paths. I found myself surrounded by the trees of indecision. I have forged across the muddy creeks that threatened to swallow me up with their currents of unsolicited opinions from others. I have been stung by the nettles of regret and salved their wounds with umbrage and bravado.
I have been lost in the woods of fear for many a year. At times, the forest has won our continual tug of war. But I have also mastered its trails and reached the mountain top. And yes, I have stumbled. I have been lost beyond belief. I have cursed the darkness many times.
And yet, I still know that there is a beauty to facing the things you fear most. While it is easy to retreat, to seek the comfort of the known, that doesn’t lead us to a path of growth in our lives.
Sure, the clearing we have found may be fine. We have have set up a nice campsite and it is comfortable. Unfortunately, it is also all too familiar. While we relish the view and the experience at the outset, we begin to find that we are increasingly fidgety.
We want to know what’s out there just over that ridge. It could be a better place to lay our weary head. It may be near a stream, so we don’t have to bear such a burden just to collect the basics of life. Or, it may even have a five-star resort there, one where we can enjoy the comfort of a warm bath and an equally warm bed. In fact, we may even see it from where we are now… off in the distance.
But the fear, the forest that surrounds us on all sides, prevents us from making our way towards it. We would rather sit in our makeshift camp where we are a bit discontented and never venture out, going back into the woods to find that path that leads to that place we can see, but can’t reach from here.
That is the woods of life, my friends. We all are surrounded by it. The uncertainty towers above us. We have no compass, except the one that God graced us with, that voice inside that says you must explore your surroundings.
In a way, we are all Lewis and Clarks. We all venture out into our world, heading for points unknown. At times, we must navigate the uncertainties of the peaks and valleys we encounter. We wonder if those who want to prevent us from reaching our destination will attack us with the slings and arrows of hurt and doubt. We fear going into the woods, not knowing where the path we beat through it will lead.
The point is, we never know. By nature, man is an explorer. We aren’t settlers. We want to know what is just beyond the horizon. We want to know why we are here and what we are meant to do. We aren’t meant to relax forever in the clearing. We are meant to forge on into the woods of life, knowing that it is the adventure that is what life is all about, not the destination.
The truth of the matter is, we all know our final destination. One day, the journey here ends. It can never be truly completed because our destination is determined one day when we no longer open our eyes here on Earth and escape its bonds.
Stop worrying about that destination. Venture into the forest. Be the Dread Pirate Roberts in the Fire Swamp. Face the fire spurts, lightning sand and ROUSes in your life. Enjoy the adventure afforded you. It’s yours and yours alone to enjoy.
Out on the Emerald Coast wondering what adventures lie ahead today,
– Robb