Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? (Matthew 6:26 NAS95)
I heard, not to long ago, from a friend, that nature has a healing effect on us. That thought grabbed my attention and I reviewed my own experience. I love taking retreats with God, and I always do that in nature.
I don’t ever recall not feeling rejuvenated afterward. It doesn’t matter whether the retreat was 8 hours, 24, 2 days or a few days. I returned home rejuvenated.
While I believe nature provides space away from hurry, worry, distraction, and it allows my attention to wander and wonder, I can’t ever escape seeing the Creator when I am in nature. Things grow, things make me look up, things make sounds. The wind blows, leaves fall, flowers bloom, insects buzz, rivers flow, activity abounds. Activity abounds without me, but in my presence.
God calls. God interacts. In nature, God stimulates the wonder and wandering of my attention to Him, to His Word, to my life, to spaces that need transformation. He invites me to conversation and awareness. Nature has a healing effect because it draws me to communion with the One who created it all. And I wonder deeply. And I am drawn upward.
After a while, I noticed retreats in nature made memories with God, memories that marked my soul. He transformed my assumption of scarcity in all things to a deep wonder about His abundance. I noticed apples, seeds, trees, leaves. I noticed a lot of them. Then I noticed, a seed sows an orchard, abundance. More seeds, trees, and leaves, and this wondering drew my thoughts to other spaces of abundance, especially God and His nurture of creation, of me, of my life: rejuvenation. And always conversation, ecstatic joy at His personal words, and a deepening in understanding of the Word and Jesus behind the Word.
Yes, in nature God rejuvenates, but He rejuvenates me because He reaches out and draws me up into His greatness, presence, and love. I relax. I see. The world remains under His care, and not on my shoulders. I can listen. He can lead. Then I remember how things are ordered rightly, including me. Deep communion with the Creator orders my soul. Nature provides the space. God lifts me up into the wonder of His nurture. He rejuvenates. Like Jesus says in Matthew 6:26.
For Reflection:
“You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.” (Psalm 104:30 NAS95)
- How does time in nature foster your awareness of God? What sorts of conversation do you find yourself in with God?
- How often to you linger with God in nature and how intentional or regular are you about taking time in nature to be with God?
