Forest Church: Stillness is a Mirror for the Soul
"If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you." —David Wagoner
Taking pictures in the golden light of the forest
August 4th, 2024
📍Salida, Colorado, USA 🇺🇸
Greetings from the wilderness!
I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to be back in the forest, out of the hustle and bustle of the cityscape, and deep in the rhythms of nature. Time moves differently up here. The peak of the summer heat is starting to cool down at night, but the days are still long and light-filled. It's glorious.
My soul is nourished in these woods, surrounded by aspens, pines, spruce, and wild flowers—it's Purple Aster season and the forest floor is a carpet of blooms. August is historically the best month for mushroom foraging in the San Isabel National Forest. I already have this year's altar theme in mind, and I'm looking forward to sharing pics with you after my forage.
Even more exciting, Forest Church starts this weekend! The Lord made it clear to me to expand my tent pegs, to make room for the multitude, this time literally.
I am inviting you to join me in this magical forest:
To encounter the living Christ in the church of His creation.
To commune with the Presence of God through a sound bath ceremony in the tabernacle tent of meeting.
To let the forest bathe you in the sounds of the prayer waterfall.
These 90-minute immersions in the forest are a reflection of the experiential prayer practice that Jesus and I have developed together in our daily routine. It would be an honor and a pleasure to share it with you. If you are looking for a "hard reset" in the woods, then you will want to join me for the AWAKEN sacred medicine retreat September 7-10th. Applications for the retreat close on Wednesday. If you're interested in attending, make sure to fill out this form today.
I'm excited to be hosting some of you here at the cabin, and I'm grateful that also means that I won't be traveling for a couple of months. It feels good to be staying put for a little while, giving me plenty of time to find the stillness my mind, body, and soul are craving.
I've been thinking a lot about stillness and reflection since my Janzu training in Amatlán. At the beginning of the retreat, we were asked to meditate on the power of water and how it manifests in us. Once I closed my eyes, what immediately came to mind was a vision of myself looking down into a still pool of water. What I heard was "I am strongest like water when I am a reflection, a mirror for myself and to others."
As I spent the next two weeks gliding through the water, many revelations came to me about the power of reflection. During my Janzu training, I learned that water reflects what is. Not what we pretend to be, not what we strive to become, but what is right now. And only when the water is still—utterly undisturbed—can it offer back a true reflection.
It wasn't until I came home to the mountains that the truth about stillness began to surface.
Stillness
I've learned that stillness isn't something we force—it's something we return to. Like the forest, it's always been there. I just had to remember how to be with it.
Living in the forest, tucked beneath the canopy of whispering pines and dancing aspens, I am beginning to understand stillness as more than a pause in movement. In these woods, stillness becomes a sanctuary.
Forest Church, as I call it, isn't a place with pews or pulpits, but a sacred rhythm—leaves rustling like liturgy, moss-covered stones serving communion with the present moment.
The forest has taught me that stillness is not empty.
It is full—
Full of wisdom.
Full of breath.
Full of the Presence of God.
Forest bathing on the “grandfather” tree.
The forest is a place to remember who I am.
To breathe.
To be.
The forest teaches me how to be still and listen, and reminds me daily that stillness is the doorway back to awareness of God’s indwelling.
Stillness isn’t passive.
It’s potent.
It reveals.
It heals.
It invites us to reflect the truth: that underneath the noise, we are already whole.
“But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me" (Ps 131:2).
With Love,
Jennifer
P.S.—I’d love to hear from YOU! Rather than emailing me or dropping me a DM, please post a comment below 👇
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