Soul Cramp

“I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit...” (Zephaniah 1:12 NASB)

Big cities can be congested with traffic jams, overcrowded sidewalks, cramped restaurants, and confined living spaces. When I visit these places, my spirit feels constricted. It reminds me of a muscle cramp--an involuntary contraction, a tenseness that persists. Living in places like this must require a certain amount of apathy. Permanent residents seem complacent about the disparity of resources, the homeless, the dirt, the noise,  and the pollution. 

Cows can be grazed in pastures or packed into dirty feedlots. Congested places have some things in common: there is no flow; neither people nor air can move freely. Conformity and stagnancy become the norm. Why would anyone voluntarily submit to this form of punishment? I wonder if, like cattle, we are unaware of the difference? 

Having lived in both crowded cities and wide open spaces, I now know the difference. These days, I can sense a cramp in my soul as soon as I approach a human corral. I won’t stay long, if I have a choice. My spirit is accustomed to flowing freely. I follow my cravings for nature, for quiet, for clean air. I seek out peaceful streams of living water.  I  drink deeply. 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” (Henry David Thoreau)