Walking the Trail-Kristen Gladfelter

On many occasions, I look at the Nolan trail as an escape from the norm. From the over crowded streets to the mass chaos of campus, the trail provides a relief from the most hectic of days. Though, on a typical basis, I see the trail as a running track. In my time at CNU I've primarily ran the trail, never once looking at the deeper natural beauty of it until last Thursday, when I slowed down enough to walk it. We started along the Lion's Bridge and merely looking over the James River put me in perspective of how immeasurable the world is. The river spanned out to the end of the horizon, barely reaching the hint of land on the other side. I stood there feeling small compared to the massive river. As the walk continued, names of plants that I’ve looked over countless times finally revealed their secret beauty. Seeds of the magnolia’s so brightly colored, are hidden within a comb, only visible to eyes willing to see. Loblolly Pines cover the trail creating a canopy with the Maple and Poplar trees almost as if they were roofing the trail. As we walked along, creatures of the wood also revealed themselves. Lizards, spiders, ants, and others were scurrying along the leaf litter trying to get as much done before the frost comes. The birds called out, serenading the forest with sweet song, carried by the gusty winds. As we kept walking, more natural phenomena kept revealing itself and I realized that just how slowing down a bit in life, can open up an entire new world of existence. The natural beauty of the world exists all around and I never saw it running. When I finally walked, the sheer magnitude of life struck me.

Landscapes of the Sacred Reflection 2- Jamie Englert

In class we discussed the ordinary as a mask of the holy. “I seldom make myself fully present to those occasions when the ordinary whispers of the holy,” Lane states in Landscapes of the Sacred (67). We miss the holy in our everyday lives because we are so accustomed to the commonness or as Lane says, “the ordinary also conceals—by the very fact of its ordinariness. It anesthetizes the mind with its dull predictability” (69). A few weeks ago I woke up early to go to historical Yorktown to get away from campus for a bit and be alone. I got there and had the anticipation that it would be a profound experience. Sitting along the river, I tried to be content and be in the moment. That was the problem, I was trying too hard. The wind was blowing hard and I was freezing, with my thoughts focused on how cold I was and the frustration of my inability to be still. I had brought my camera hoping to get some good shots of the water or landscape; however, nothing I took seemed to be good enough. I was losing patience and the time was passing with more and more people around, adding to my limitations. After failing at getting a good shot from the pier, I walked to the sidewalk in dismay and saw a family just in front of me. A little boy was on his bike while his parents were on either side, helping him along. Their backs were to me as I carelessly took a shot without meticulously adjusting the shutter speed or aperture like I usually would. When I went to review the picture, I was taken aback for a minute. Yes, it was just a picture of a family together, but it showed so much more. The family was silhouetted against the landscape and evoked such simplistic beauty of the moment they were in. Rather than capturing a meek picture, I unconsciously captured a moment in these people’s lives. Even though there were not faces in the picture, the emotion still radiated. This family could have passed by me earlier and I would have thought nothing of it.

This family represented the ordinary. There were tons of people around, families and friends of all ages, with nothing in particular standing out. I had been looking for something special, to capture something of beauty or abstraction that had insightful meaning. But when I stopped looking so hard for one second--that is when the real beauty was revealed. The ordinary revealed the holy. This simple image of a mom and dad teaching their son how to ride a bike was so innocent and yet possessed incredible power. Parents’ teaching their kids how to ride a bike is a normative, common experience yet can be seen as so much more. The kid has to trust their parents that they will keep him/her safe and the elation they experience when finally learning how to ride alone can be experienced by all three together. That raw joy in such a simple act, I believe, is holy. Love is so evident. When I stopped overlooking the familiarity of my surroundings, I saw more than I could have asked for.

Blue Ridge Escape in Blowing Rock, NC - Tara Thompson

Three different hikes, and this, the easiest, most simple of the three was where I found rest. Actually I’m not even quite sure you could consider it a hike. We drove up to this point and proceeded to play a game of hide and seek. However, you had to climb to get a good hiding place. I began climbing rocks that were monstrous and there were a few times I feared for my life (a bit of an exaggeration, I’ll admit). As I climbed, and climbed, I finally got to the top of this rock, after thrusting myself into it and bruising my WHOLE BODY (another exaggeration, but I did have a lot of bruises, I get competitive during hide and seek..). I laid down in pain and exhaustion, and couldn’t find my breath. It wasn’t from the climb though, it was from the view. I felt as though I could see for miles, miles of beauty and awesomeness. Each tree was a different shade of yellow, orange, or red. I started thinking about how crazy that was, when you really think about it. Here I am looking off into mountain after mountain after mountain, filled with hundreds, of thousands of trees, and there were no two trees that were the same; every single tree was different! I couldn’t hold in the tears. How is it that a Creator, so imaginative and incredible, who created this whole world, and created each and every single difference on each and every single tree on every single different mountain, could call me His beloved? Not only has he thought out every one of the trees that I was awe struck by, but he thought out every piece of my being, and knows all of the hairs on my head. I can’t get over how insanely cool that is.

Whenever I forget, I’m always led back to this realization. However, what I’m noticing more and more is that God loves using nature to lead me back to it, probably because there isn’t much that gets to me more than a rustle of the colored autumn leaves, or a gentle breeze that brushes my hair back. Being up there on that huge rock, I felt so close to my Creator. My constant thoughts, and worries subsided for a while, and I felt a satisfaction that seems so rare these days. I knew he wanted me there, at that moment, to witness His holiness. He took all His simple creations, and used them to speak to me, so clearly.

Landscapes of the Sacred Reflection- Jamie Englert

Lane has four axioms that he believes help us understand the character of sacred space. The fourth axiom, “that the impulse of sacred place is both-centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal” (19) is particularly interesting to me. In class we discussed page 35 when Lane states, “We long to be placed in the land of the holy, but on gaining possession of the sanctuary we come quickly to presume upon its guaranteed mystery—only then to be driven from it in search of yet another place, another center of meaning.” This statement seemed very complex to me but after reading it several times I think I finally understood the truth it presented. We have this desire to be in a place that is holy and when we get there, we have the expectation that the chthonic power will no doubt affect us because it is so close. But it is this pre-conceived notion we have that simultaneously drives us away from the holy. We obtain what we were searching for and yet still have the need for more. It goes back to the local and universal concept—wanting to believe the holy is limitless and everywhere but still desiring that it can be pinpointed to a location and be personal. An example of this axiom can be seen in Christianity. There is the belief that God is all powerful and mighty, having control over the entire universe but at the same time dwelling within us and always being accessible in an intimate manner. It is the unfathomable mystery of God in the Christian faith that shows this dual character of the holy.

Mythic Landscapes: The Ordinary as Mask of the Holy - Tara Thompson

As a child my mother had me convinced that God was everywhere, all the time. I would look around the house and point to different things, “Is God in this lamp, mommy?” “What about in this banana? How can God fit into a banana!?” It was during that time that I was on my best behavior, I felt as though God was watching me everywhere I turned and I knew that I had to show Him that I was a good little girl. As I grew up, I slowly forgot about that. I began to only seek God where He is most expected to be, in church, while I was reading my bible, etc..

“In Christian thought, the one great practical truth of the incarnation is that the ordinary is no longer at all what it appears. Common things, common actions, common relationships are all granted new definition because the holy has once and for all become ordinary in Jesus Christ.” Lane couldn’t have phrased that better. I’m reading through Luke right now, and just as every where else through out the bible, it shares with you the ordinary things Jesus constantly used to exemplify the holy. Not only was Christ made ordinary, but he preached about ordinary things to reflect the sacredness of His Father. He taught parables about shepherds and their sheep, one of the most normal jobs in His day. He taught of normal people, and their normal duties, of farming and tax collecting. He taught parables of mustard seeds, and lanterns. Jesus screams ordinary, yet he is more extraordinary than we can even imagine. How is it that I could forget how simply extraordinary God is, that I would only see Him in Church?

Jesus said in Luke 18, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Maybe that is because as we grow up, we forget to view God’s ordinary creation as His holy works. Yes, I would agree that if God were to split a sea right in front of me, I would be amazed by His holiness. However, the Lord is so cool that he masks His brilliance as ordinary, every day occurrences and things, such as a golden leaf falling from a tree, or the smile of a best friend. Once you realize how extraordinary the ordinary is though, the brilliance of our Creator is seen and you’re amazed by how much you’ve been missing out on.

Noland Trail - Josh Osteen

Looking at the map, frantically watching my speed and the road, I drive to the class meeting on the Noland Trail. I'm worried that i'm going to be terribly late and so my mind is freaking out. I watch the clock and get more nervous as each minute flashes up. I finally arrive at the bridge and step outside to the warm fall weather. I meet up with the class as they are just walking to the big statue that begins the trail portion we are walking. We talk about the history and we start our walk. We stop every 10-20 feet and find out something new; a berry, a historical fact about how something was changed, or how the trail has changed in the past few years. We get to the final stopping point for the entire class and I am finally getting in touch with the atmosphere of these woods. I start trekking back to my car and my mind is losing the frustration that once was blinding my thoughts. I begin my observations on my own.

As I walk back through the trail, I see small trails darting off into places that it seems things could not actually fit. I see trails winding back over small hills and to places I cannot see. These trails look like challenges to search for the new. I ask myself why people cannot sometimes enjoy the known instead of looking for new. I understand and have felt the need and passion for unknown adventure, but I had taken this hike in order to analyze and exist in the known. I also see in a tree initials cut into the bark. I instantly think of a movie called Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. This movie has a scene where one of the main characters puts the other main characters hand on a recently cut tree. She asks him if he can feel the pain. The fact that the first character was that connected to nature makes me very jealous. Thinking about the actual tree I saw, I wonder why people carve their names into trees. Do people feel the need to destroy in order to physically express what one can only feel emotionally? I continue on the trail and stop to see an ant carrying an unusually large piece of food. I also see a small troop of recon ants and I just admire the fact that they are navigating this huge world and working together. I get back to my car and sit on the bridge and look out upon the lake. The lake looks infinite yet enclosed. I can see part of the lake, but it winds around a bend and the rest is lost to my eyes. I feel as though it keeps going forever with ever-changing landscape and things to see, but i know that it is deceitfully finite.
Overall this hike was very interesting. I was able to change my mind and focus on the task at hand and was able to let go of the stress that was bothering me. I felt not completely centered and in sync with the trail, but I was able to see and feel the things we needed to feel and was able to understand in real life the things we've talked about in class.

James Joseph: Truth Hidden in Trails

The Noland trail is not quite the place we would want to have a picnic at, but it is beautiful and deep in it's own right. Having walked the paths, observed the animals, felt the trees, and pondered about life while looking over the pond, I feel like there's alot more to a trail or path than what we first take in. For example, looking at how a crane will flutter across the tranquil waters, only to take land on a log that a group of turtles happen to be take residence on. This seems to us as what most would call "Nature being nature" and we usually reside ourselves to that and don't look any deeper. But on the odd chance that we begin to take notice, and begin to wonder why animals do certain things, the truth becomes known to us. So looking at the example of a crane flying to a log that has turtles on it could be taken many different ways. Could it be that the turtles are prey to the crane, which is unlikely but not out of the question. Or is it possible that the crane and turtles work together on that log, to help catch prey for each other? Taking a different angle, it could also be a scene of turtle-crane romance (har har). But in all seriousness, trails and what you find on them can be alot more than what we first take it as. And as we compare nature trails to life, we realize that life is very similar, and things could be very different from what one first presumes. In relative terms, a book is just a book until it is opened and the pages are read and understood, then it becomes a story.