I paused in a different spot on the trail today and noticed this rehabilitation area. Clearly, this was once a path. It still looks like it could be one. But if you look closely, you will see many tiny plants that could easily be damaged by a misstep. I wonder how long it will be until the sand and plants completely cover the rope that supports them and it will be as if the path was never there at all.
Those of us who pray the Lord's prayer pray that it will be "on earth as it is in heaven." Imagine for a moment the natural dune as heaven, and the well-trod, or overused, path as earth. The pandemic slowed us down enough that nature began to reclaim what we have habitually overused. We began to glimpse a different way to be in the world.
One of the great gifts of the pandemic for me was a deeper connection with the natural world and its rhythms - rhythms that made me healthier and more whole. I felt myself much more a creature of the Creator, understanding my place in the world. Somehow, understanding and accepting my limitations opened up space for me to notice new things growing in and around me. Things that had probably been there all along, but unnoticed and certainly untended. The tiny plants that in my hurry I simply walked by, or walked on.
This morning I read that Dr. Fauci says we are no longer in "full-blown pandemic." Some cannot wait to get back to "the way it was," and already are back to full-speed-ahead. As for me, although I welcome the lessened danger as the pandemic wanes, I fear we have not learned the lessons of the pandemic very well. It feels in many ways like the rush is on to retread those familiar paths, however harmful or overused they may have been. To walk again too close to the cliff edge, to disregard what is trying to grow.
We seem to be in about the same phase of recovery as this path. Our choice now is to abandon the rehabilitation and go back to what we were doing, or continue on the course of restoration, nurturing the new growth and patiently watching and waiting to see what emerges. I am going with option B. It is slower, and the path is getting less and less visible, but it feels healthier for me, for my relationships, and for the world. Will you join me?