Touching the Earth

The other day, Ted asked me if I had touched the ground over the course of the day. Of course I had touched the ground that day - hadn't I? After all, I had walked downtown, walked to the mailbox, and sat on the porch. Walking requires touching the ground, right? Wrong-if you define the ground as the earth. My feet had touched pavement, but my feet had not touched the earth itself. All of a sudden, the thought struck me that touching the earth requires a conscious and mindful act in most parts of the country. The simple act of sinking my feet into the grass (or dirt, depending on the area of the country I'm in) requires me to find an area that is not covered in pavement, to take off my shoes, and to intentionally linger with the earth.

Touching the earth has always been an act of renewal and regeneration, as it connects us to something larger than ourselves. Many of us who have homes with yards frequently interact with the earth - mowing, pruning, shaping, and fertilizing, until the ideal landscape has been achieved - so that we can sit on our porches and enjoy the views. But how many of us lay in our front yards to look at the clouds or the stars? Or climb our trees? Or walk barefoot in the backyard? Or leave our chairs on the porch in favor of a picnic in the grass? Perhaps the simple act of choosing to touch the earth each day will lead us to make the choice to connect to life in other ways - by reaching out to our communities, and to all the other areas of life that we often take for granted, but which are actually the very things that will strengthen, enliven, and reconnect us, if we are willing to risk the connection.