Broaden the Size of Your Back Porch – Back Porch Tales Part 2 of 7

Determined to break the bonds of fear and to broaden the size of my back porch, I started exploring nearby nature spots. As I walked and savored my growing sense of safety and well-being, it felt as if each aspect of nature had a wonderful story to tell.

“Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned.”
- Chinese Fortune Cookie

Introduction:

My early girlhood was spent wandering the woods, never facing any greater danger than a bout with poison ivy. The thought of being afraid never once entered my mind until the name Betty Jean Necessary was splashed across the news of my small town.

Betty Jean Necessary was a twelve-year-old girl. I was almost twelve. Betty Jean Necessary lived near woods. I had a stretch of woods that began right behind my house. Betty Jean Necessary’s walk home from school included a short-cut through woods. On February 26, 1970, she never made it home. A neighbor raped and shot her four times. From that time on, my favorite pastime was poisoned with fear. Although I would still occasionally take my woodland walks, it was always accompanied by the adrenalin rush of looking over my shoulder and jumping at every sound. The bulk of my free time was spent reading fiction from the safety of my parent’s living room.

As a grown-up, I was determined to free myself of that childhood trigger. Determined to break the bonds of fear and to broaden the size of my back porch, I started exploring nearby nature spots. As I walked and savored my growing sense of safety and well-being, it felt as if each aspect of nature had a wonderful story to tell.

April 18, 1999
Gatlinburg Trail Between Gatlinburg and Sugarlands Visitor Center

We welcome you to this area. Knowing you were coming, we have prepared what we wish you and all those who read these words to know. Walking by the still waters of a peaceful stream is truly a blessed event for ears, eyes, skin, heart, and soul. There is beauty and Christ Consciousness in everything and everyone you see and experience, even in the burnt-out-hull of a tree, honed by nature’s storms and time. The Christ Consciousness is everywhere you look, if only you invest the time to strive to perceive this. It is certainly in your best interest to do so.

Notice in this root formation, there are two windows through which you can view ever new water flowing past. Each droplet, though you cannot begin to gather and count them, is totally unique, totally new, fresh, and renewed. You are truly blessed to watch this stream of renewed, ever fresh water flow past. Don’t fight the current. Stay in the flow of the Universal one Mind, flowing in the direction that is for your highest good, then all will go according to plan. Go in peace, Sister. Have a blessed day.

April 18, 1999
Gatlinburg Trail Between Gatlinburg and Sugarlands Visitor Center

As you walk, via land, upstream, you view the water as yet untouched by what the future will bring. Once again, you view this water through a number of window overlooks. As we flow over and around rocks and stones and fellow droplets of water, we adapt and change. Each moment, each encounter alters our personality ever so slightly. No two droplets are exactly alike. Even so, our one droplet stays ever the same. With every passing millisecond, as we move in the flow of the current, we are different, altered, changed, more than we were before. So goes it also with mankind – yes, and womankind too. Perhaps more so for womankind as they are more open to change and growth and expansion.

Flow with, not against, the current and life will be easy – even smooth. Yet there is the potential for ever greater growth, greater expansion when one chooses to buck the current and embrace adversity. In any case, it is always your choice. It is also always your choice how one will react, interact and act upon each moment, seemingly positive or negative, smooth or rough, bucking upstream’s current or flowing downstream as it comes. Walk in peace, goodwill, and harmony.

April 18, 1999
Cataract Falls (near Sugarlands Visitor Center)

We welcome you to what is labeled by mankind Cataract Falls. Upon returning home, look up cataract in the dictionary and see if you can guess why we were given that particular name as opposed to another.

(Note: The American Heritage Dictionary quotes: “a large waterfall, a downpour.”)

We do have a message we wish to share with you and all who choose to take this path to view such as we are. We are never the same from moment to moment, thus you could view us again and again and get a different message each time. Even now, the words you are writing are coming to you as from a distance, as the waters that began this message have already flowed past. Every moment is different, unique, special. Since this is so, it is imperative to be present in every moment, as there are lessons to be learned from each. Go in peace. Have a blessed day.

April 18, 1999
East of Cataract Falls (near Sugarlands Visitor Center)

Due east of Cataract Falls, a trail begins that rounds a curve. Where could it lead? What could I learn? I must traverse some shallow water to find out.

We, Spirit of the Trailhead, urge you to bridge the waters and align yourself with our path. Don’t go the whole way to Laurel Falls – not today. Just walk for awhile until you receive the message it is time to turn and re-trace your steps, back along the trail, back to your car, back to your earthly home in Knoxville. Come, come, see what is just around the bend. Walk in joy and great anticipation of the lessons just waiting to be learned.

April 18, 1999 – Crested Dwarf Iris
Trail Between Cataract Falls and Laurel Falls

We hope we have made it worthwhile to come and visit with us.

(My response: Yes, it has. It makes me wish to walk further to see what other treasures I may behold.)

Good. Then we have done our part to lighten the load of your walk and your path in life.

What you are doing now can be likened to panning for gold. Sometimes you find fools gold, sometimes rocks and pebbles, sometimes water. But every now and then, when the time is right, you hit the jackpot and find true gold. Those moments are truly worth reaching for as it advances you on your next evolutionary step – pointing the way for where you should next direct your feet. We feel honored that you feel honored that we could share in this moment together. Walk in peace and joy and the true, pure power of God.

April 18, 1999
Gatlinburg Trail between Gatlinburg and Sugarlands Visitor Center

Thank you for passing by this way again to receive and retrieve this lesson. By the time you reach your car at the Gazebo Inn in Gatlinburg, you will have walked ten miles or more by foot; however, you have traveled much further and more extensively in your inward journey. We are upstream of some places you’ve been and downstream of others. We are a vortex of water power. We are a meeting place for three converging streams. Or more accurately, we are the true path and two other streams work their way over to converge with this path. You can liken this to the path which you walk. You travel alone downstream, sometimes smoothly, sometimes over rough spots. For a time, however short or long, others will align themselves on the same path to travel with you. When it no longer serves you to travel together, then one or both of you veer away. You are both enriched, changed, altered by the joining; but when the time is right, you each travel your respective paths solo. There should be no sadness over this parting- simply grateful adieus and a loving wish of “Bon Voyage” and “Go in peace!” Thus, we send you on your way with the same message.

April 18, 1999 – Fire Pink
Found by Road Parallel to the Gatlinburg Trail

We cling to the side of a hill. Our roots help strengthen and prevent erosion. Our color and smell help attract birds and butterflies and bees and other insects who help spread our growth to other areas. Mankind calls us Fire Pink. We think of ourselves as nature’s unexpected bounty as we grow in places where one would least expect to see such as we are.

Our greatest wisdom is the following: let your light shine wherever you find yourself. Live life to the fullest regardless of the circumstances. Drink in the sunlight. Soak in the rainfall. Let nature’s winds dance through your leaves and petals and in your case, over your skin and through your hair. Treasure each day as a gift from God. Make the most of that gift. Be what you are and love, Love, LOVE all with whom you come in contact. Love them so much that they reveal to you the message they alone hold for you, the message that will advance you further along your spiritual path. Be grateful to the bearer of that message and walk even more firmly aligned than ever along your pre-chosen path. Walk with them for a time if that seems right; but in any case, walk with God! Be present in each moment to hear, to soak in, to benefit from the lessons inherent in that moment. Let go and let God! That is all!

April 18, 1999 – Pink Dogwood Tree
Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Red, Pink and White Dogwood blooms are quite common in the spring in East Tennessee. We rejoice in the pleasure that people take from gazing at our blooms and drinking in the vibrant colors. Our blooming season is short. Once our petals fall to the ground, people must wait a whole year before they may behold our true essence once again.

Mankind has the opportunity to keep their bloom showing throughout the entire year. They do not have to wait until a certain season so that they may bloom anew. Take advantage of every opportunity to share your truth, your essence with others. Those who have ears to hear and eyes to see will learn from and appreciate your message, the message that only you can share. Take advantage also of appreciating other people’s blooms, their essence, and the message, gifts, and talents that are totally unique to them. Take joy in one another. These, like our blooms, are all gifts from God. That is our greatest wisdom that we wish to share with you. Walk in peace and walk with God.

If the scenes we view in nature could talk, what would they say? This is Part 2 of a 7-part series. View the slideshow of the pictures described above: Back Porch Tales Slideshow

Resources:

Chinese Fortune Cookie

Inspired by Michael J. Road’s book titled Talking with Nature: Sharing the Energies and Spirit of Trees, Plants, Birds, and Earth