Shenandoah Escape

By Jamie Rae Whiteley
CBN.com Guest Writer

CBN.com -- I pushed my pack into the back of my truck and slammed the gate closed. Four hours later I was dropping my truck into low gear and inching up the mountainside. It was another weekend in the Shenandoah’s and I needed desperately to get away. Everything about the city was itching under my skin. The air was too polluted, the highways too crowded, and the fast food too greasy.

So every weekend I step out of the truck somewhere on Skyline drive and lace up my boots. That day, I walked up an overgrown fire road, looking for the familiar white blazes that mark my trek along the Appalachian Trail.

There is an old adage that says “garbage in, garbage out,” and our minds are susceptible to this. The negativity and tension that fills our workplaces and homes eventually fills our minds, pouring into our thoughts and eventually our speech. It’s frustrating when you feel like you are doing all the "right" things, daily Bible readings, weekly trips to church, and yet those bad thoughts and feelings keep creeping in. Sometimes, quiet times with God each day just don't seem to be enough to purge these influences. Sometimes, you just have to get away.

I walked for a couple of miles on a narrow path, overgrown with tall grasses and wildflowers. My mind wouldn’t sit still, flitting from thought to thought, unable to focus on one thing. Squirrels darted around underfoot, chattering back and forth. Soon I was going uphill. The sweat was dripping off my nose and slipping down the sides of my neck. I was breathing heavily and I couldn’t hear anything else. I had to stop several times to sip water from my Camelbak.

When I reached the top of the mountain, there was a clearing in the trees which led to a rocky outlook, perfect for viewing the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A soft white mist drifted in and out of the valleys, birds called back and forth, a butterfly landed on my pack. My mind was finally quiet.

The outdoors is a great place to get your focus back on the important things. It’s God’s work in the raw and I believe one of the best reflections of our Creator. What better way to see God than by looking at His creation in its original form? The wilderness is God’s handiwork untouched.

When I get outside, there isn’t room for negative thoughts and feelings because of the majesty of it all. The greatness of God fills my head, leaving no room for anything else. It’s taking the week’s mental garbage out to the dumpster, leaving an empty space in your mind, ready to be filled by positive thoughts and the glory in knowing God and wanting Him.

I picked my pack up, grabbed my hiking poles and headed down the other side of the mountain. A doe and her fawns looked at me curiously as I made my way down to the place I planned on staying the night.

By the end of the weekend, I felt like I had been in the woods for weeks instead of days. It seemed like it would have taken years to dump all the emotional garbage that had been clogging my mind. Instead with God’s gentle hand, whispering through the leaves, a burden had been quietly removed.

Somewhere in the woods, Jesus is walking, carrying all my cares on His back instead of a pack, leaving me free to face the rest of my life. If you haven’t witnessed the healing power of the wilderness, I challenge you to try it. Take a walk on a deserted beach, have a picnic lunch at the nearby park, find a trail and see where it takes you, physically and spiritually.