Session 2: Bright stars on a dark night

In this series, we make the case for men to get regular time out in nature. Data tells us that the average modern man spends 93% of his time indoors. That is to his detriment. To truly thrive, men need to listen to the call of the wild. Today, we look at the important role the great outdoors can have during our toughest seasons.

When I was 17, my stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. He died two weeks later. A fortnight after that, the relationship I was in at the time broke down. And then just a few weeks later, my Grandfather suffered heart failure and died overnight.

That brought me a lot of grief but it wasn't the immediate aftermath that I struggled most in. The hardest part for me came two years later - the calm after the storm. When the fighting for survival had stopped, I was exhausted and left pondering the hard questions: 'What is the point in life?', 'Why did bad things happen to me and my family?' 'Was it my fault?'. 'Where was God?'.

The things that once mattered, no longer did. The strategies I had to overcome tough moments, no longer worked. David articulates the same problem in Psalm 42. He had hit rock bottom and couldn't get back up. No amount of praying, thanksgiving, worship, recounting the good times, stirred his heart back to health.

"Why my soul are you downcast?" It doesn't make sense to him that the things that once brought him up off the floor, were no longer effective.

"My tears have been my food day and night". He is constantly fighting back the tears. He wasn't winning.

"My soul is in despair within me". He has reached his low point, with no hope of ever getting up again.

Though it is not the main point of the Psalm, I find it very interesting that David turned to nature to rally himself. "Deep calls to deep". David pictures himself in the Mount Hermon range, somewhere he had clearly been before, remembering the awesome sights and sounds of nature - the thunderous waterfalls caused by melting snow from the mountains highest peaks. He pictures the rapids in the rivers below and likens his troubles to breakers and waves that crash over him.

That which is 'deep' in God communicates to that which is deep in nature. He found solace in that. Nature was the thing that woke him up from his slumber, that gave him hope amidst his hopelessness.

Science backs this up. Getting out into the wild regularly can stave off or weaken depression and anxiety, improve mood, create positive emotions, help with processing trauma, stop people from constantly replaying negative memories in their heads and help people to move through grief.

Perhaps it is time for you to change your environment. To step out of your routine and into nature - if only for a few hours - and let it break you out of your pain and slumber. Many great men of the past have done this. Winston Churchill, in the midst of war, made walking in the forests a regular release. William Wilberforce found great joy during his despair in the wilderness that surrounded his house. Theodore Roosevelt healed his heart after the death of his wife in the wild west. At their lowest point, they responded to the call of the wild.

I did to. The rolling hills and forests that I lived near at the time provided me with a way out of my slumber and depression. From summer to winter, I would walk, run, cycle and sit in this area, wrestling with the dark night in my soul. It would ultimately be those days with in the wild with God that set me free. It can do that for you too.

Session 2 activity

Session 1 activity

First - click here and read these scriptures:

• Psalm 42

• Psalm 8:1-4 (page 110)

Then - answer these questions:

1 - If you are going through a tough time, what is your strategy to deal with it? Do you have one?

2- In Psalm 42, David is clearly struggling with some heavy stuff. Nothing is working. Yet he rally's himself thinking

of the awesomeness of nature and how it reflects the power of its Maker. How do you think that helped him to

deal with his current woes?

3 - Write down two or three wild/natural places you can go next time you are struggling.

4 - In Psalm 8:1-4, David has the realisation that the same God that created the moon and the stars, cares deeply

for him. God cares as much for you too. Take a moment to reflect on the natural wonders you marvel at. How

does it make you feel that the same God who created them, is for you and not against you?