To see thee more dearly...

While walking in the Mastihito trails, I always sang a little song that helped to bring me out of my thoughts and into the present moment.  The song was “Day by Day” from the musical Godspell except that I had changed the words to focus attention on the experience of my five senses.  My intention was to get out of my head and into my body so that through my bodily senses I might experience God more intimately in the world.  Therefore, instead of singing, “to see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, and follow Thee more nearly day by day,”  I would sing, “to see Thee more clearly, to see Thee more dearly, and to see Thee more nearly day by day.”  Then I would sing it over and over again replacing the word “see” with “hear,” then “smell,” then “taste,” and finally “touch,” and with each verse I would concentrate on using that sense to perceive God more deeply in my experience of the world.

During one walk, however, I was feeling agitated and disconnected from God. I had been talking and talking to God, but not listening…  Finally I stopped on the path in frustration and looked up into the trees and angrily bellowed, “Are you conscious of me God, right now, right here in these woods?”   When I didn’t get a response (what was I expecting anyway?), I started walking again.  However, I had only gone a few feet when I heard noises off to my right.  I looked and there was a young deer cautiously approaching me.  It stopped about 15 or 20 feet from me and simply looked into my eyes for about 10 minutes.  Finally it turned and quietly moved back into the woods.  I had been very touched by the experience and paused to ask God, “What was that all about?”  Immediately, in response to my question, a phrase from the song, “Day by Day,” which I mentioned earlier, popped into my head. The musical answer to my question was,  “To see thee more DEERly!”