Friday, December 4, 2009

Taking a Stroll in the Snow!

Yesterday began as a normal school day. I woke up and went to school, prepared to stay late because of my music ministry rehearsal which I have every Thursday. However on this particular day we did not have practice. I did not know this however until I waited in the music room for a half hour until my music teacher told me that it was canceled. Frustrated that they could not address this over the announcements before I came, I wondered what I should do with the remainder of my time until my mom came to pick me up. When I walked outside I found that it was snowing! This was such a beautiful sight! It was so beautiful that I decided to spend my time taking a stroll in the Seminary Woods which are right in the backyard of my high school.

Inside the woods was warm. My feet crunched the thousands of leaves under my feet. I tried to look for deer, but I saw a lot of squirrels instead. It was fun to watch them bounce around in the piles of leaves on the side of the path I was walking. As I continued to walk, I saw an old man walking his dog. I wondered where he had come from. I had not seen him before. He looked like he could barely walk, perhaps this was why he had a cane. I watched as he trudged up the leave covered hills. I wondered where he was going. Then as quickly as he appeared, he was gone.

Soon it began getting dark. Mist started to roll in from all around me. I decided to keep walking however, because of my desire to sit and pray at the Grotto which was somewhere in the thick of the forest. As I made my way through the woods, I came upon the cemetery that I had passed through many times. It contained all of the graves of seminarians, priests and nuns from years past. I wanted to stop there for a while, but as I came closer and closer I began to grow afraid. I was all alone and I felt scared. The cemetery seemed eerie and creepy. I wondered why this was because in my years that I trudged this path I had never felt this way. The cemetery began to fill with mist as I watched from abroad. As I watched, I began to grow more afraid. Slowly I began to back pedal down the path that I came from. I made my way back out of the woods and walked toward the seminary library where my mom was coming to pick me up.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I pondered why I had felt uneasy while I was in the woods. Maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. I wish I had had enough courage to brave the cemetery in the woods. I'm sure it would have been beautiful, but for some reason I felt discomfort. Perhaps the next time I stay late for school I can have a chance to go back to the woods and take a quiet stroll. Have any of you ever felt the same way I did?

1 comment:

  1. Do not underestimate the urgings of your Guardian Angel and the Holy Spirit John.
    Perhaps there was a good reason (that you'll never know until you get to Heaven) why you weren't supposed to enter the cemetery yesterday. It is good that you followed and trusted your gut feeling...I often tell my kids that "gut feelings" are another word for HOLY SPIRIT. You asked if anyone has felt a similar happening...I remember when we were younger,and we lived in historic Harpers Ferry WV, my husband would job through the town along pretty much the same paths day after day after day for YEARS...one day, much like you, he suddenly felt VERY uneasy and afraid when he was approaching a certain old abandoned building in the town...he grew so uneasy...that instead of running past it (as he'd done every day for years with ease) he turned BACK and came home and could not finish the run...I believe he changed his route from that time on.

    ReplyDelete