From 1st Journal--> God of all things

Since I have been at Emory, I have been running daily through Lullwater park. In the midst of a hectic schedule and constant stress, I find that running, especially in parks and around lakes, clears my mind. At the same time, I also find spirituality in nature. I look at my surroundings as I run and reflect on the beauty of creation. Even though I struggle with religion, every time I run I can’t help but think that there must be a God because of the incredible life that we are surrounded by, yet rarely recognize.
On a run I took today, I caught a glimpse of the sunset. To me, there is something deeply spiritual about watching the sun set in the distance. My freshmen year at Oxford, a couple of my friends and I would go every Friday afternoon to Mount Arabia, a rock mountain about half way to Atlanta. We would climb to the top, about a 15 minute hike, and watch the sunset. Mount Arabia, during the spring, is covered with blooming diamorpha, a very rare and, if I’m not mistaken, endangered plant species. Our Friday tradition was something that I cherished when I was at Oxford because it forced us in a way to slow down. In such a fast-paced lifestyle, I find that being in nature creates peace if you take the time to slow down and see the beauty in everything. Interestingly enough, from the top of the mountain we could see Atlanta in the distance and hundreds of planes flying to and from the Atlanta airport. Even on top of a mountain we couldn’t completely get away from the fast-pace of modern life. But instead of focusing on the planes and the buildings in the distance, we would always just watch the sun setting and the colors surrounding it. Often times none of us could say anything- our words became meaningless in such a setting. Although I rarely take the time to journal about my day to day life, I was compelled one Friday afternoon upon getting back from the mountain to write some of my thoughts down. I looked back on what I wrote and immediately all the feelings that I had that Friday came back to me. In the journal, I wrote how I felt God on the mountaintop. I felt him more than I ever had feeling the wind blow against my face and looking out over the trees and sunset. I felt God in the birds that I watched fly carelessly by. I felt God in the colors and in clouds. My feelings, however, were not necessarily referring to the God of the Bible that was in human form and was watching over all of us. The God I felt on the mountaintop that day was simply the divine presence, or energy, in all living things. I felt connected to the birds and the wind and the sky like I had never been before. I was filled with peace and a joy that I cannot describe in words. I ended the journal entry that day by saying, “God is in all things.” In the context of this class, I feel like by destroying nature we are in essence destroying part of ourselves, for we are connected to each living thing. I feel like, by destroying nature, we are destroying God in a way. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Even though we are fully aware of our impact on this world, I still bow my head and ask God for forgiveness.