To the Woods

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” --Henry David Thoreau

I'm headed to Girl's Camp with my Young Women next week. And I cannot wait. A few days in the woods living simply and quietly (I hope), sounds heavenly. My bones are aching for it. When I imagine heaven, I picture a hammock with my name on it. Leaves rustling in the wind high above me. A book heavy on my abdomen, open and waiting. The slow, rhythmic sway of the fabric cocoon around me. Soft eyelids. Soft gaze. Total peace in the moment.

Girls Camp probably doesn't have hammocks. But it will have trees. Good enough.

Thoreau's words seem like amazing meditations and affirmations for every day intentional living (in the woods or not):

Today I will live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.