When I am hiking in the woods on spring mornings, I love that I am dwarfed by a sea of trees. I appreciate that I am outnumbered by animals and insects who see me when I cannot see them. It puts us clumsy humans in our place. When I am surrounded by nature, I often think of my favorite quote from Rabindranath Tagore: “Trees are earth’s endless effort to speak to a listening heaven.” My prayers have a similar trajectory: They start out as saplings and grow skyward. I come to God as a child would. That’s the way it should be.
Perhaps my greatest prayers happen when I’m on foot. Perhaps it is where I feel most comfortable opening my heart to a listening heaven.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s “Let Us Pray: Spring Awakenings“
by Christopher Heffron
1 thought on “Praying on Foot”
My greatest prayers have been, like you Christopher, on foot among the trees. For the past four years I increasingly lost my ability to walk without excruciating pain to the point of being chair bound, sitting within view of trees in a courtyard. And there I again wrote great prayers, of anguish, grief for the world, God’s presence, the life giving wonder of all Creation and by the Grace of God I am gradually returning to paths among the trees. I will be thinking of your meditation… In prayer.