Thoughts on Thoreau

It's Friday evening already. I've been here three days.  Thanks to the ambitions of my friends, I find myself reinvigorated to the possibilities of life.

It's amazing what a few years can do. Life is change. It's always a challenge to love the present - all while accepting that it will slip away.  I can't decide whether time is my mistress or muse. I have an unhealthy obsession with her. That's why, after visiting Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond today, I felt an overwhelming urge to leave my plans behind and do something as simple as living in a cabin.  What a bold statement!

I will not be controlled by time.
I will live simply
and in harmony with nature.
I will not give in to panic.
I will not give in to the elements.
I will be.

For over 100 years, people have been bringing stones to the site of Thoreau's old cabin. These are people who have ventured from around the world to see with their own eyes where this man lived simply.  The pile is huge - larger and wider than the site of the actual cabin.  There are even stones engraved with the birth and death dates of the dead. 

I suppose I now find irony in that.  Regardless of our reaction, panic-ridden or calm, time still consumes us.  I supposed that's what truly matters. Death might be out of our control - but the way we react to it is not.  We decide. 

I see something similar in the 23rd Psalm as it talks about walking in the valley of the shadow of death. Something few people notice is how important that setting is.  Our lives are lived in this valley - with the shadow creeping closer every day. But the author isn't fazed. "you prepare a table before me."

This guy sits down and eats a meal. In the face of death.

And all while this shadow looms close, he believes that "goodness and mercy" follow even closer. 

So chill. 

So brave.

I want this.