I have been musing this week about the many blessings we have received in the natural world, the opportunities to experience the diversity of a planet that we cherish as God's creation. The variety has been stunning. We have snorkelled in the Caribbean and Costa Rica and seen fish of many shapes, sizes, and colours. Twice now I have travelled to New Mexico and on each occasion been taken by surprise by the stark beauty of the desert.
Our years in Northern Ontario allowed us to canoe and hike into country where we didn't see other humans for days but did come close to otters, bears, moose, peregrine falcons and eagles, to name just a few. In the Saguenay region of Quebec and at Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy we saw Beluga whales, and Right whales, as well as porpoises swimming beneath our kayaks.
Early the other morning, while it was still dark, I lay in bed thinking about an experience when our children were young. We were staying in one of those two-storey clapboard houses you see in the travel ads for Newfoundland, on a small chunk of north Atlantic rock called Change Islands, adjacent to Fogo Island. Friends from our earlier days living in Newfoundland loaned us the place for a week and we loved our time there. Neighbours told us that the mackerel were running in close to shore, so we climbed up the hill behind the house which gave us a magnificent view out to sea. We saw many small boats with local folk hauling in nets filled with fish. Around them were Humpback whales, presumably there for the same "feed." From high above, gannets were plunging into the water with amazing accuracy.
The scene was one of abundance and interdependence which was profoundly religious and spiritual for me. Take a moment and read Psalm 104 which speaks of the great variety of creation on land and in the air and in the sea. This Psalm reminds us humans co-exist with other creatures who are important because God made them.
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures...
Our years in Northern Ontario allowed us to canoe and hike into country where we didn't see other humans for days but did come close to otters, bears, moose, peregrine falcons and eagles, to name just a few. In the Saguenay region of Quebec and at Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy we saw Beluga whales, and Right whales, as well as porpoises swimming beneath our kayaks.
Early the other morning, while it was still dark, I lay in bed thinking about an experience when our children were young. We were staying in one of those two-storey clapboard houses you see in the travel ads for Newfoundland, on a small chunk of north Atlantic rock called Change Islands, adjacent to Fogo Island. Friends from our earlier days living in Newfoundland loaned us the place for a week and we loved our time there. Neighbours told us that the mackerel were running in close to shore, so we climbed up the hill behind the house which gave us a magnificent view out to sea. We saw many small boats with local folk hauling in nets filled with fish. Around them were Humpback whales, presumably there for the same "feed." From high above, gannets were plunging into the water with amazing accuracy.
The scene was one of abundance and interdependence which was profoundly religious and spiritual for me. Take a moment and read Psalm 104 which speaks of the great variety of creation on land and in the air and in the sea. This Psalm reminds us humans co-exist with other creatures who are important because God made them.
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures...
Just returned from "Earth" the new Disney movie, this PA Day afternoon. An amazing and beautiful look at the cycle of life and death of God's creatures on earth every 365 days. Life isn't easy in the wilds for God's creatures,that is for sure, and we were reminded that what we are doing to our earth only makes their survival more difficult. (a movie for all ages)
ReplyDeleteI walk through the creek several times a week, and no matter how much mind clutter I start my walk with, it always ends with an awareness of the abundant sounds of nature - running water, birds, wind in branches - and I am always amazed at how much we are missing when we stray away from an appreciation of nature and how much 'emptying out' that mental transition provides. (the noise of my own life vs the noise of the earth)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura, for the recommendation of Earth.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, pupil, that it isn't necessary to travel the world to enjoy creation. There are trails in and near our towns and villages which open us to tremendous beauty.
Readers live near the Rockies, the prairies, Chesapeake Bay and the Bay of Fundy. All reveal different aspects of nature.