Healing and Hiking Trails: The Connection

When Forgiveness Seems Impossible, Let The Hiking Trail Be Your Healer

We’ve all got something we wish we could change. Something we find hard to forgive ourselves for. Maybe it’s a poor decision that’s been made. A regret that we wish could be done over. Maybe it’s a moment where we’ve hurt someone unintentionally yet the scars and the pain continues to live on. I don’t know what it is for you but for me well, I know this pain all too well. I am not always certain how to make it go away. But what I am certain of is that the healing can be found in nature and a hiking trail is a perfect place to begin the journey.

It’s Called Life and No One Can Escape Making Mistakes

No one can escape making careless choices. It’s called life. We live it. We learn from it. And then hopefully, move on from it. If anyone tells you that they’ve never made a bad decision well they’re either lying OR they haven’t lived long enough yet.    

I’ll gladly put my money down on knowing that one day, more than likely, they will probably find themselves in the same boat as we are. I pray not but chances are strong that they, too will make a regrettable decision at some point in their life. And although it’s just part of it, it does NOT have to be a life sentence. The car doesn’t have to stay in the ditch. We can get it back on the road and headed in the direction that God had us pointed in. But we’ve got to get quiet in order to hear his voice and there’s no better place to truly listen than when we’re walking alone out in nature.

In The Middle Of God’s Handiwork Is Where Healing Begins

Have you noticed how the stress level goes down when you’re in the woods on a hiking trail? It’s like the world stops and all you hear are the sounds of birds singing and squirrels barking. I love to listen to birds. Their songs are so beautiful.  

I’ve always been a more visual person noticing colors instead of paying attention to the sounds in nature. But over the last several years, I don’t know, but the sounds when I’m out on hike really jump out at me. Everything seems more alive. God’s handiwork is more noticeable when I’m in the middle of it and I can’t help but be in awe.

Stop And Listen

If you stop and listen you can hear a plethora of different songbirds singing in harmony with one another. You can hear the wind waltzing from one end of nature’s ballroom to the other. Have you ever really stopped what you were doing and LISTENED to it? It begins and then it ends and then repeats itself over and over. Years ago I actually wrote a poem that included those very words all put together almost the same way. I didn’t realize it until I was sitting here typing it.

Funny how we can remember something so vividly that it leaves an impression in our souls. But that’s what nature does to us. It leaves an impression to heals us, to remind us that we are one with something bigger. Someone bigger. And it will heal us if we allow it to.

One of my favorite scriptures is Job 12:7-10 from the NIV version of the Bible.  “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Nature Is Our Greatest Teacher

Nature is our teacher.  

I’ve actually learned more about myself when I’ve been out in the woods hiking, or in a treestand hunting, or simply taking a run around a nearby lake. If we will seek Him in nature we will find our peace.  

And better yet, we will find the healing that we’re longing for and that we so rightfully deserve. But we first must get quiet so that we can hear His voice and get direction for our next steps.  

Those next steps He has for us might just be on a narrow path covered in dirt. And the path may very well lead to forgiveness of self, bringing with it a sense of stillness to a restless heart. We’ll never know what He has planned until we take that first step toward Him. It’s time to lace up!