Nature breathes forth her influence to capture us: to open our eyes, sensitize our ears, illuminate our minds, purify and soften our hearts. The color and fragrance of a rose wet with morning dew or the industry of a tiny worker honey bee busily collecting pollen and nectar from flowers to take back to her hive can humble us, teach us perspective. As Standing Bear knew, "Man's heart away from Nature becomes hard."
Sit in a forest glen, sunlight slanting across your face, no sound except the calls of birds, or tapping of woodpeckers, no movement except squirrels hustling around you and climbing into the branches above you, and your heart rate slows, you begin to relax. Life becomes centered on pondering the intricate veins on the leaf you hold in your hand. Because Nature isn't in a hurry. Her hours, days, and seasons move monumentally slowly. Yet, everything happens when it should and as it should.
Even the faraway sun knows what to do and when to do it and does it silently and effortlessly: "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." (Galileo Galilei).
And somehow, deep in the cells of our bodies, we know that Nature responds to us. There seems to be an unspoken connection and understanding between Nature and us, because we have the same Creator. That's why we feel betrayed when volcanoes erupt and lava overruns a village; tornadoes destroy our houses; floods bury us in mud. And yet Nature works in broad, sometimes violent strokes to do her work. We can still feel dizzy with exultation when we climb a mountain; we're comforted and secure when we lean against a solid tree trunk.
Kahlil Gibran says "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."
Poet Philip Pulfrey, in "Love, Abstraction, and Other Speculations," laments
All I want is to stand in a field
and to smell green,
to taste air,
to feel the earth want me,
Without all this concrete hurting me.
Holy man and poet St. Francis felt so connected with Nature, so prayerful in her Presence, so related soul to soul, that he personalized every aspect of Nature as his sister or brother in Christ. Here is his beautiful prayer:
"Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my Lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens you have made them, precious and beautiful.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which you give your creatures sustenance.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten the night. He is beautiful, and cheerful, and powerful and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace, for they will be crowned."
Amen.
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