The Agreement Forest

I had about an hour to spare the other day and so I stopped by the agreement forest for a walk that I had been meaning to take for some time now. I had resigned myself to take this walk in the upcoming spring since I gave up all hope for going there before the bitter winter weather but, thanks to greenhouse gas emissions, I was able to take it earlier than expected. I suppose global warming does have its advantages! (Please note my sarcasm!)

It had been a few years since I had been in this particular forest. The last time I was there was when my friend and I took all five of our kids for a winters walk. Returning to this area brought back a lot of memories. The snow ball fight, the running through the trails, the rosy red cheeks, strolling down the boardwalk through the marsh, the sounds of laughter… all great memories! The kids were a lot smaller back then. Now, one of my children is in college, one of my friend's children is soon heading to college and the other three are still in school.

Now that I look back, I don’t think I took my two children out onto the trails and into the forests enough. I regret not doing so because, as a result, I never really exposed them enough in order to love and appreciate the beautiful outdoors like I do. I think that in today’s society, children spend way too much time on computers, video games and other electronic gadgets. Our society is turning out children whose reality extends no further than their LCD computer monitor or plasma television… How unfortunate!

I do believe that, as parents we have to take the responsibility for this. I have no doubt that, had I taken the time to do so, maybe my children would have been more aware of God’s creations. Looking back, I just wish that I did a better job in introducing them to the great outdoors. Unfortunately, we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle that society has to offer that we let valuable opportunities to walk across God's green earth slip through our fingers.

It may be too late to change the grain of their lifestyles but not too late to at least give it a shot every once in awhile by trying to get them to slow down and spend some quality time outdoors with me so that they can see for themselves what they are missing .

Now that’s a good New Year’s resolution!