We're very fortunate to have Mill Creek Metroparks' the three-mile walking/biking trail close to both the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown Motherhouse and Angela's Villa. Located near the park's golf course and off of Shields Road in Boardman, Ohio, it's a favorite place of many who live at or visit our Young Adult Ministry home.
When I visit the trail, I often reflect on the following poem by Pulitzer Prize winning author Mary Oliver:
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”