July came to visit us this week. It was a short visit … just a couple of days, and to celebrate her arrival, I went on a walk in the Rouge forest. Not just any walk. It was a special walk. A prayer walk. A slow sauntering, with senses alive to see, smell, hear, and touch the mystery of creation as it danced before me.
The Japanese call these walks shinrin-yoku …. forest bathing…. and they are seen as opportunities to let nature heal and soothe you. And for me, a chance to listen to God, and to experience God soothing presence. Lord knows, with all we are hearing about this second wave of pandemic, we can use some healing and soothing.
I walked again a few days later in a conservation area just north of Newmarket. But it wasn’t the same. Too many people. Too many bicycles. One even had a loud radio attached blaring what might have been considered as music, though I am not so sure about that. To be honest, I was feeling a little tense. Stressed with all of the activity going on around me. No still, quiet pensive moments. No silence and solitude within which to encounter God.
Then a movement ahead caught my eye. It was four people riding their bikes towards me. A family, I suspect. The first was a young man – and let me say that anyone under 50 is for me, young. He stared resolutely ahead, eyes focused on the people walking, the children who might just dart in front of him. He looked intense and goal-focused.Behind him was a young woman, perhaps his wife or partner. With an iPhone on her handlebars and earphone thingies in her ears, and eyes with a far-away gaze, I got the sense that she was really someplace else that the music was taking her to. Third in line was an older man. My age, although in much better shape. He too looked somewhat resolutely ahead … but not being in the lead, he didn’t have to bear the responsibility of leadership, and I sense his focus was on keeping up with the younger man. It’s a guy thing.
And then, God appeared. And she looked radiant!
An older woman, maybe the wife of the older guy. She was the last person in the group, pedalling away with the most incredible smile on her face and gentleness in her countenance. No sharp focus and resolutely looking ahead for her. She was drinking in the sights before her, looking at the trees and smiling, looking at the people and smiling. Her face radiated joy! No iPhone on her handlebars and speakers in her ears ….she was taking in the sounds of her journey as well as the sights. And she seemed almost relaxed as she pedalled away.
I got the sense that if she wasn’t with the other three riders, she would have stopped whenever and wherever the spirit moved her to take in the sights and sounds that surrounded her – to bathe in the forest and in the energies of creation. And like us, she would have talked to the chickadees as they sang for us. She would have watched the family of ducks as they swam by oblivious to all of the commotion on the path. She would have gazed intently at the patterns that the sun made as it filtered through the branches and the remaining leaves on the trees, and she would have seen in the sun’s glow that God was giving the trees a halo. That they were messengers to us,angels of God to us, that day. She would have breathed deeply in the smells of the forest, and let the beauty of creation and the beauty of the creator Touch her innermost soul.
Unexpected, was that encounter. I had expected to feel closer to God in the Rouge. Quiet, tranquil. Pastoral. And then, when I least expect it, God goes riding past me on a bike!
So, what has all of this got to do with the readings today?
Well, perhaps it is an homage to our proverb that talks about the woman having a value far beyond pearls. Or perhaps it is a reminder, as Paul gave in his letter to the Thessalonians, that Gods arrival will surprise us. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the homily for today on the gospel. On how the parable of the talents is not about how to day-trade or set up portfolios to increase rates of return. It is not a performance objective on how much return on investment we are called to make on God’s investment on us.
Rather, the greatest return in our lives, the greatest impact of our lives, comes from our ability to see how God surrounds us in love, how God surrounds us in grace, how God surrounds us in mercy. And in being aware of how we Iive our lives surrounded by, immersed in, God, we discover and live out one of the greatest mysteries of our creation – that by giving love, we are filled with love. That by being merciful, we receive mercy. That by seeing beauty, we are filled with beauty. And by seeing joy, we are filled with imperishable joy.
That woman in her ride through the forest trusted that those in the lead would take her to her destination, that the trinity of people ahead would keep her safe, so that she could drink in the gifts of creation, and radiate her joy. And without knowing it, she would touch the lives of others who looked upon her face, and those who hear this homily..
We too follow a trinity. Perhaps we too can trust that we will be led through this forest of life safely, and like the woman who rode past, by taking time to experience God’s creation, by taking time to value the people and events in our lives, by taking time to drink in of the gifts of creation, and see behind them, the hand of the creator, then we too can radiate a joy, that will touch the lives of others who looked upon our face.