Today's search for hammock time created restlessness for me. I started off to head to the Soddy lake to a picnic area on a peninsula. I was stopped on the hill by a train on the tracks. It isn't unusual for this road. However, when the line lengthens behind you and those in front of you turn around to seek other paths, you begin to question how long the train will remain. I decided to do as many had done and turned around and left. Based on the train that I saw further down the tracks where I crossed, I would have been waiting a long while. I got onto the highway and continued to my destination. There were families with kids in the water, people in kayaks, and hardly any space for a hammock that would be peaceful.
Because I figured that a go-to spot on the creek would be crowded on such a beautiful day, I decided on a tiny TVA park I had seen years ago, near the "stacks". There was only one other vehicle when I arrived and another person walking a dog.
I found a spot between two trees and settled in. I wrote this Haiku:
Breezes. Birds. View of water.
Calms my restless soul.
[DD, 5/1/21]
I watched the leaves dance in the breezes and listened to the birds sing. I noticed a sign on a tree that marked a trail. I could not find any information about the trail.
A book that was recommended in the spiritual direction cohort came today: Mark Nepo's Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred.
I read the cover and saw that Rev. Ed Bacon had a quote on the back. That made me smile. He was one of my rectors at my home church in Dalton, GA-- St. Mark's Episcopal.
I read through the other quotes and noted Parker Palmer. He impacted my teaching when I heard him at a language conference years ago.
I read through the quotes slowly and then the introduction. I can already tell that this book is going to be one of those that reads you more than you read it.
I write from the hammock and have a great sense of peace.
The view of the water and the continued breezes continue to relax and refresh me.
The adventurous journey continues.
Peace,
Rev. Deb
