Thankfully, despite all that is going on around us, there are still opportunities to feed our souls. Last week I took advantage of the glorious weather we had and took the day off from blogs and writing commitments. Instead I went with my family to the country. It was our annual trip to the pumpkin farm and although there was plenty of social distancing, hand sanitizer stations, and required masks, nothing could take away the feeling one gets from being in nature.
While the kids ran around feeding the farm animals and looking at the pumpkin statues of characters from movies and children's stories, I couldn't stop myself from simply wandering around, looking out over the fields of withered corn stalks, bales of hay sitting in rows waiting to be collected, and the mass of trees that bordered the farm, a blaze of color and light. I stood by a fence and just breathed, deeply. I let the sun warm my face and the free, fresh breeze of the outdoors blow off all of the dust and disappointment from weeks of being inside, only stepping out cautiously once in a while for groceries or to have Sunday dinner with my family. Out here all of the fear and anxiety were blown away on an Autumn breeze, and replaced with the smell of freshly turned earth, of crows cawing in harmony, and the sounds of children laughing at the antics of the goats who were happy to show their gratitude for the feed that came down the shute by prancing around.
No matter what else this global crisis and the political storms may do to our lives, nothing can take away that greatest of all medicines, nature. Nothing can take away the beauty of a sunset or the promise of a sunrise. Nothing can rob us of the seasons, of the rolling hills of color in the Autumn, and the burst of green and new life in the Spring. The wind still ruffles our hair, the birds still sing and fly in formation, and we can still lay back and look for puppies and dinosaurs in the clouds. Even when the snows come, and they will, we can still step outside and let the frozen air bite our cheeks to remind us that we are still alive, and that the sun will come up again tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
I took myself to the country to feed my soul, to clear my lungs and my mind, and to fill my heart with hope. That, dear friends, is my prescription for you.
And so it is.
