The Walk of Faith

One day recently, during my winter break, I went hiking on Turkey Mountain. As you may have read in previous essays, it is not a mountain and it has no turkeys. But it does have a lot of natural history: it is a palimpsest of geological time, ecological time, and human effects. And often when I go walking on the trails, I receive many insights that my perception of the natural world stimulates within my mind. Or, if you prefer, insights from God. I cannot know which of these two sources of insight is true.

But on this day, I had very little such experience. I did get a couple of ideas, which I duly noted in my notepad (on my cell phone). But the hike was mostly just annoying. Oh, it was a couple of hours of good exercise, which is never a bad thing. But it was mostly a time of being annoyed at the constant stream of loud airplanes overhead—not commercial planes, but pilots who get their enjoyment by flying over other people’s houses and creating noise—and other hikers who let their dogs run loose, and smelling the sewer plant. The most annoying part was when I got a phone call from the credit union telling me that they had made a mistake and I had to drive back in to their office to sign some more papers. I finished my hike well exercised, and appreciative of the beauty of winter branches, and even of buds swelling in anticipation of spring, but not spiritually renewed.

But it was a walk of faith. Sometimes when I have taken this hike, I have received numerous important insights into what I needed to write. This is faith: I believe that, whenever I hike on these trails, I might receive important insights. It doesn’t always happen, but I am always ready for it to happen. Actually, this insight was one that I received when on the otherwise annoying hike, so I guess it was worth it.