It's about being fit, not just looking it

 A great article by the founder of MovNat.
A great reminder that the journey towards health and wellness that I am undertaking is about being as natural as possible and I have a big backyard to play/be active/work out in.

Gifting Communities

One of the highlights of my time in Washington, was what became known as "The Gauntlet". This included Scout Week, Survival Week and the Closing Week together as a tribe. It was during Scout Week that I had a bit of a internal conflict as I watched certain tribe members get ultra competitive and for others treat it kind of like war. It wasn't until 2 months later that I got to witness a much more benevolent way of playing an age old game.

The outdoor school that I worked for sat on land that was owned by and a part of a Sufi Community. One of their values is that of nonviolence, and when it came time to play capture the flag they went about it very differently. They practiced the art of gifting. The art of gifting was more about paying attention to the needs of the tribe rather than taking something from them. You still had to practice your scout skills of movement and invisibility, but rather than the goal being to take the flag, the goal was to give a gift to the other clan without being seen. This too became very contagious as each clan attempted to sneak into another camp to gift them.

Growing up in the Church of the Brethren (and I struggled with games that seem to promote a war-like mentality) but here it was like a light went off and I quickly realized how we could go about this and still practice our Brethren values of being a blessing.

A gifting economy is one in which the most important things aren't for sale (child care, prepping meals, making music, taking care of the elderly, leadership decision etc..). Selling and buying tend to distance or impersonalize relationships. Gifting builds, sustains and grows relationships and communities. I think that's part of my current struggle with the church, we've lost the importance of gifting in favor of buying and selling our stuff for others.

Exploring Our Running Roots

I've been reading Chris' book Born to Run and it has really inspired me to re-think my understanding of running. When I was young and into my teens, I was always a sprinter and never could run more than a 6-minute mile. I always told myself that I was not a distance runner.

Yet in my wilderness training out west, I was introduced to "coyote running" which greatly improved my ability to run... even distances. I've not been running much since then and this TED talk has inspired me to begin running again. I love his reference to pack running which reminded me of an ancient Ojibwe prophecy speaking about a time when wolf and human hunted together and that our paths would separate for a time only to be one day joined together again. Maybe that prophecy is unfolding in our lives today with the comeback of the wolf and our re-imagining that we were born to run.

Reclaiming an era

Is this what happens as you get older?

I find myself referring to a golden age of writing and thinking as of late. I'm not referring to some age such as the Renaissance; rather a time in my life that was rich with words, images, clarity and creativity. I find that I'm not as contemplative as I used to be; simply look back at my blog posts from 7 or 8 years ago. I don't know what's happened in that time but I notice that (lately) I find myself speaking before thinking and that feels so backward from how I used to be. I've told people recently that they've not seen the best version of me yet or that I used to be so much more contemplative.

Here's the best explanation I've come up with.
I'm the heaviest and most out of shape than I've ever been (and generally unmotivated).
I've not been reading and thinking critically (rarely if at all in the past year) like I used to.
I've not been outside like I usually am (some of this is due to a rather harsh winter).

I look forward to creativity re-emerging and the reclaiming that contemplative side of myself that has gotten lost in recent years. Maybe it is getting older, but I think vitality will return as I exercise my physical, mental and spiritual self. Wish me luck.

A culture of 'gathering'

(Parts from this post was originally written for the camp's newsletter last fall; but I wanted to expand on it a bit more than I could in that format and for that audience.)

I think people get confused when they spend any time outdoors with me. It largely has to do with my background as an outdoor educator and their expectations of doing the old "science in the woods" routine, whereby I point out everything and identify it along the way. They quickly learn that "finding the answer" isn’t one of my top priorities. In a culture that is over-saturated with information; answers become dead ends for people, and a good question is worth a handful of great answers. When in the woods, I’m more interested in the story that is unfolding. So the model that I employ when leading nature time is often asking people, "Tell me the story of what happened here." Those looks of confusion gradually subside once they realize I’m treating our time together more like a puzzle rather than a test. It’s then that they begin to read and participate in the story rather than me just cramming them with information (which they likely won’t remember or at best will become a "memory" where no real connection was made anyway).

That's the thing about puzzles; they don’t solve themselves. You are given the pieces and are invited at your own pace to figure out how the pieces connect with one another.  When we read the Gospels, we see the moments where Jesus offers an answer as less of an answer and more of another piece of the puzzle. In most scenarios, he doesn’t just say here’s your answer/truth; rather here is just one more piece for you to sit with and figure out how and why all of this matters. After all, the best teachers are the ones who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see. Our faith communities are places where sojourners can sit for a time and hold their piece of the puzzle and through prayer, discernment and wisdom seeking best clarify 'how' and 'if' their piece fits into the collective vision of that community and how their story fits into the bigger Story of God.

I once heard a good tracking proverb that helped me place this thought into a deeper context: When you see a new track or trail you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing. What so often happens today is when we happen upon a new track or trail because it represents mystery or seemingly has nothing to offer us, we do not follow it to the point of knowing. A quick answer does not invite one to continue peeling back the layers.

We are culture bent on 'gathering' (food, pleasure, materials, information, the 'right' answers) but not pursuing. Ironically, what we've not understood so well is that gathering really means giving and sharing, we've lost sense of this along the way so our gathering has become one dimensional. It's largely about us not the community. And that is what is making us sick, depressed, obese, empty, and the newest one reeling from symptoms of information disorder. The communities that seem to be sensing renewed vitality are allowing people to follow the trail that leads to a greater understanding and relationship with God and God’s creation. When they go deeper on the trail they discover that God is inviting them to live from their hearts and to share their story with all who would be willing to listen. There's an old Dutch hymn that we sing in our churches, "we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing..." We are missing the boat if our gathering is only about gathering and not about the togetherness that must always accompany it. I pray that we can become better at putting the pieces together, pursuing the story and making sure that we share it rather than content to merely gather it...

Roots hold me close, wings set me free...

It has been sometime since I've posted on this blog, 2 years, too long to be honest.

In keeping with the trends of the past, this blog is getting a face-lift. Everything from the look to the name. The content will remain the same as I offer personal reflections and thoughts on pertinent subject matter related to nature connection, outdoor education/ministry, rewilding the church, spirituality, faith, anabaptism/radical pietism, male spirituality, as well as some new thoughts on how being a parent applies to all of this as well. 

The name of the blog is Latin for "reading nature". It also is a play on a contemplative practice known as Lectio Divina; which is a way of reading the scriptures whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to speak to us. In doing so, we are invited to to live deeper into the meaning of the text. So when we lectio naturae, we don't just do "science in the woods" rather we practice a set of 'core routines' or better said 'disciplines' that deepens our connection not only to nature but to the soul and the Spirit as well.

After a number of years wandering the wilderness of faith, I believe that many aspects of my life have finally taken root. In their sprouting, I am set free by my calling to share my heart song. It feels good to be back and I hope you'll subscribe or check in on a weekly basis as I start putting myself out there again. I look forward to many of your comments and conversations as well.