There is something special about escaping society for a period of time, even if it is only for a few short moments, and gaining inspiration from different forms of life. Forms of life that contain alternate energies that we cannot completely comprehend, yet we can relate to. Forms of life that make us awe struck, make us wonder, how could something so magnificent and complex even exist, yet at the same time give us an understanding, that feeling, something else out there must be the reason for the existence of it. 

 

This summer I spent a month living in a cabin in some woods. I was immersed deep in rainforest of the nationally protected wet tropics of Queensland, Australia for four weeks. It rained every single day for the first 16 days I was there. I wouldn’t have survived without my gun boots and rain jacket. The water just kept falling and falling. I woke up to tropical birds singing in the rain, chugged through the mud in my gun boots to camp in the rain, had class in our study shack while it was raining, ate lunch in a covered area while staring at the rain, played volley ball in the rain, hiked through the forest as it rained, ate dinner while it rained, and at night it poured. 

 

The water didn’t stop falling. I would fall asleep to the pounding of raindrops outside my wooden cabin. I can almost envision the water falling on the forest floor, the soil immediately absorbing every single drop. It never flooded. The forest was continuously thirsty. As long as the rain kept falling, the forest kept thriving, and the trees continued growing. As long as the trees kept growing, the animals had their habitats, and the biodiversity of the forest prospered. The mushrooms, vines, flowers, seedlings, all persevered and advanced. As long as it rained.

 

One day I decided to wander through the woods by myself. It was still raining. I sat by a trickling stream. I was mesmerized; the water just kept falling and flowing. The water was vital to the survival of the rainforest. As I sat there, getting soaked in the rain, I made a connection. The water never stops falling in the rainforest forest the same way god never stops revealing himself to us. The forest is always thirsty for water, the same way humans, as spiritual creatures, never stop searching for the guidance of our maker. The water can survive without the forest, but the forest cannot survive without the water. God would still be with or without humans, but we would not be if it weren’t for god. The water never flooded the forest, just as we can never be overwhelmed by god’s presence. The more, the better. 

 

My experience in the rainforest was unlike any other. I learned god will always be there to quench my spiritual thirst providing me with a fuller life, just like the rain will always fall on the forest floor maintaining growth of vegetation and complex animal life to support the ecosystem of the rainforest.