Nature: A foreign world

I can't get enough of the outdoors. I love trees, and birds, and lakes, and hiking, and swimming (clothed or otherwise), and furry friends like squirrels and chipmunks. My all time favorite place is of course, the beach. The sound of the waves does something for my soul and state of mind that no other activity has done yet. It's peaceful but powerful at the same time.   I can walk, run, lay or play on the beach and have completely different experiences, but always leave feeling refreshed and energized. I love camping. So much so that I recently took a road trip across the country with my sister, and camped the entire way. The type of camping where there isn't cell phone service or other digital distractions. The only everyday comfort that we had was a double high queen size air mattress. {a necessity after riding in a car for 14 hours a day}. The type of camping where the stars are brighter than anywhere else, the trickling stream is the sound you fall asleep and wake up to, and you have to be certain to lock up your smores food at night time to avoid any cute, neighborly local critters. 

I've always loved being outdoors. I can't imagine a life always in front of a screen, or inside with AC, or in an office. ewww, no way. 

When I was a kid, basically all we had was outdoors. Before the time of video games being a household staple, one computer (let alone 3 or 4) per house, iPad's, iPod's, smart phones.....well, you get the point. Before the time of man-made everything entertainment, we really didn't have a choice but to go outdoors. As a child I would mow the lawn for fun (it took 2 1/2 hours, but it was a ride along mower, and I loved it). My brother and I would be gone for hours a day swimming in the waterhole, climbing trees, skipping stones, checking out the beaver dam in the pond at the base of the mountain we lived in front of, or dancing in the rain. We'd ride the tire swing, play fetch, go hunting, walk up to Lougee hill or ride bikes. We grew up in a time of knee scrapes, elbow bruises and sun-kissed skin...i don't even need to wear sun screen anymore, and need the vitamin D anyways.  

Even as I write this post I'm sitting outside on the deck, listening to the pine bugs, crickets and birdies singing and talking to each other. And it just started to sprinkle, but the sun is still shining, so there'll probably be a rainbow, which is a communication from God. And a gray squirrel just came up for a visit to the bird feeder, and looked straight at me and was startled. The acrobatics these little guys perform for me is incredible.

My sister is even a master birder. She can recognize birds from far distances just by the way they fly or the structure of their wings or the sound they make. Of this, I'm incredibly jealous. 

See, these are things you can't experience indoors. 

These days it seems like kids only get thumb cramps from so many hours of gaming, or snazzy new eye glasses because their eyes are already worn out at 12 years old. 

I was recently talking to a very well rounded, smart and environmentally sensitive dear friend of mine, and he brought up the term 'nature deficit disorder'. I had never heard of it before. My initial thought....

What? You can be so deprived of the things of nature that there's actually a disorder for it? That can't be true. 

I did some digging. Here's one of the sites I visited. And 'nature deficit disorder' actually does exist. Not only that, but they're making a correlation between it and ADHD, Depression and Childhood Obesity. And yet schools are still removing recess completely and replacing PE with computer studies. Isn't it bad enough that when kids are let out of schools they run home to their computers and gaming systems? Do we really need to remove the only half hour (maybe) of connection with nature that they get? And the scary part is, parents are keeping their children indoors because they are 'protecting them from danger'. 

I don't know what your opinion is, but I think it's pretty clear we're doing an incredible disservice to the future of our nation. I'm concerned that one day (not far off) humans won't even be able to connect with each other, let alone be grounded by nature. 

Sure, I love my iPhone, and access to the world wide web at any given moment...but something I love more, and always will, is being in the great outdoors, connecting with the beautiful Creation that God gave us. I make time for it every single day. I know I'm not the only one like me, but I wonder if it's largely because of my upbringing. My dad always took us camping, fishing, hunting or biking...and I remember my mom hand feeding chipmunks and raccoon's (not recommended), and nursing wounded hummingbirds back to health. I can't imagine feeling any other way about nature, and always wanting more time with it. But if it's because of my attachment to the ways of my childhood, what is going to happen to all of the children these days, who can't even ride their bikes to the end of the street and back, let alone go camping in the woods for days...yikes.

What is society going to look like in a few decades?

Oh no....it's happened.

I sound like one of those old, out of touch with modern society, people. {oops}

Soulful interaction

There's a few things I know for sure in this world. I won't go into my plethora of knowledge about the earth being round, or the sun being hot or that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue....or was it the John Smith...either way, I digress. 
One thing I absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt, is that every person who walks this earth has a soul. No, it's not tangible, like the dirt and water that makes up the earth, or the blisters you get from too much sun... or the sleek, silky feeling of skinny dipping in lake water...but who really does that anyway? :)
After living out the short life that I've lived on this earth, and experiencing everything that I've experienced, I can't believe some people think we just live, and then die, and then become worm food, and that's it...gross.
No, you can't compare it to any other feeling or matter in this world, because it's a gift beyond human comprehension. It's a direct connection to the Creator of our universe and His vast creativity that is unmatched....and that in itself is indescribable. I could write an entire post novel about it, but I'll keep it on an earthly human level right now. 
I know without a whisper of question that I possess a soul. A soul that is a sixth sense, picking up on palatable connections with other souls in this life. Your soul is that feeling you get when you look into someones eyes, and you just...smile. You might have just met them, you might have known them your entire life, but your souls connecting and communicating brings an unmistakable, unique interaction that is not duplicated by any other experience in this world...and the only immediate response is for you to...smile, or laugh..or get goosebumps. It's your soul that alerts you to a complimentary, friendly soul when you shake hands, hug or otherwise make physical contact. And it might be that you've found your 'soul mate' if it's like the grand finale of the best 4th of July fireworks display you've ever experienced, even if you just brushed fingers.  Your soul is alive and well, and if you're open to it, will allow you to see into a realm of peoples lives that is not visible to the outside world. You'll know that you're tapped in, when it feels like the rest of the world doesn't exist around you and you're being completely transformed.

I like to think of it as different colors. I've heard that in Heaven there are more colors than we've ever imagined on earth. It's as if to say our souls are different colors, and are wandering around, aware of all the other unique colors that are out there. And when you come into contact with another color, you might appreciate it for it's unique beauty, and you might leave a splash of color on them that is apparent for everyone else to see. But occasionally, and maybe only a handful of times in a lifetime, you will come across a color that your color (soul) has an un-duplicatable attraction to. Romantic or otherwise. That when you connect, it's so magical that a completely brand new, unique color is formed. A color that is unrecognizable to the rest of the world, but is so much a part of your being that you are forever a different shade of your original color. It might be so slight, that no one else picks up  the changes you present, but to you, you're a completely different color all together...and the only other person who recognizes you as you are now, is the soul who left that impact on your life, and you on theirs. Or it might be so apparent, that the rest of the world doesn't recognize you as you anymore. These interactions and realizations can take place without either of us being aware it's even occurring. 
Everyday, we encounter different colors souls in this life, and it's up to us if we're going to recognize their uniqueness, or simply let them pass us by as just another shade of gray, or purple or blue. It's up to us, if we're going to allow them to splash a bit of their color on us or if we're going to walk around with a shield of clear saran wrap surrounding us, so we're able to see the other colors out there, and let them think they're splashing us with their color, but unwilling to let them leave an imprint on our lives and consequently not allowing our color to splash on anyone else...what a tragedy.
I don't know about you, but I hope my color is yellow. Yellow because I want to be bright and apparent to everyone else. I want to stand out to the rest of the world. And I want the splashes of color that I encounter in this world, to be obvious and clearly a part of who I am. Maybe that's why I'm a November baby and my birth stone is gold topaz. I choose yellow because the only other lighter color is white...and white is set apart for the only truly pure soul who's ever walked this earth, Jesus Christ. Black is the absence of color, and white is all colors combined...so it makes sense that He would be white, since we're all created in God's image, and only Jesus walks around with a splash of every single soul who's ever walked this earth. 
Whatever your color is, know that it is truly a gift. That no one else wears your unique shade and that you have been given that color with Divine purpose. Don't hide it from the world, and don't be afraid to let the other colors of this world, splash their beauty on you, and you on them. You might have the great fortune to be turned to a completely different shade that is only recognizable to those who have eyes to see and souls to...well, recognize.