Remembering Walden

Henry David Thoreau was an American writer and philosopher whose work focused on the deep connections between humans and nature. Thoreau saw nature, including gardens and wild landscapes, as sources of wisdom and moral clarity, and he concluded that a life lived close to the earth offered the best opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.

From 1845 to 1847, Thoreau conducted an experiment in simple, self-sufficient living when he built a cabin near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau sought to strip away the distractions of life so he could better focus on spiritual growth and a deeper connection with nature. His goal, much like Solomon's in the book of Ecclesiastes, was to live deliberately and understand what is truly essential for a meaningful life. In his book Walden, published in 1854, Thoreau reflects on simple living in harmony with nature, emphasizing the spiritual benefits of solitude in natural settings.

Much like the metaphors we are encountering in our study of gardens throughout Scripture in our "Remembering Eden" sermon series this fall, Thoreau experimented with themes of growth and cultivation as he sought to understand the meaning of life. Listen to this beautiful conclusion in his 1849 book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers: 

As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done.

What distractions or "weeds" in your life are choking out new growth in your relationship with Jesus Christ? Is your God-given poetry lying dormant beneath the soil or stretching upwards towards the sun with invigorating new growth?