On Nature

 

Nature and Mindset

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet."

-William Blake

 

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."

"The earth laughs in flowers."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

Nature is honest, if sometimes unkind, and truth is honest, if sometimes unkind.

It's fascinating how even something as seemingly mundane as unusual weather can provoke reflection and stimulate change in our perceptions and routines. Nature has a way of affecting us deeply, whether through its beauty, its power, or its unpredictability.

In the case of South Carolina's unusual weather stimulating the growth of local flowers, it's like nature is presenting a tangible manifestation of its own dynamism and resilience. This can serve as a reminder of the ever-changing nature of life and the interconnectedness of all living things.

Solomon wrote that everything has its time and season, its place and purpose.

Such is the way, looking at a hard freeze taking place in the United States.  A difficult moment which requires hardiness and forethought has come to us: covering the spigots, putting our plants indoors and so forth.

But it has a purpose, the hard winter.  Some plants require a freeze in their off season.  Such as in Colorado, where snowfalls that melt in spring provide a great deal of the water supply downstream.

And imagine that glowing spring, with flowers, as if they were smiling, themselves.

Solomon goes on to say that there is "nothing new under the sun", that everything that troubles us now, is nothing particularly different that past troubles that the people of the world faced.  We need not complain too bitterly of the cold, but put it into a more linear perspective, and understand that it has happened before.

Nature is honest, and sometimes unkind.

 

We often find ourselves at the mercy of time and circumstance.

Just like young trees that bend and flex during harsh weather, only to emerge stronger and more resilient, we too can learn to adapt and yield when necessary.

The natural world offers valuable lessons in resilience and resourcefulness.  Young trees bend during harsh weather, and they live on thanks to that bending, where the set-in-place larger, older trees can be more easily toppled, by water and wind.

Do we too bend when necessary?

Can we benefit from any particular circumstance?

By embracing flexibility and humility, we can benefit from life's challenges and circumstances in countless ways, beyond mere financial gain.

Personal growth, inner peace, and tranquility are just a few examples of the valuable rewards that can arise from embracing life's twists and turns.

 

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."

-William Blake

 

The aftermath of life's storms

Somewhat whimsically, we note how clean and polished everything looks after a storm.  “Polished and clean” as in formerly harried by harsh winds and driving rain.  After the storm, the quiet is welcome as the atmospheric pressure changes…..

We hear that only handful of people across the region died in the storm, and we think it wasn’t bad at all.

Yet for those few families, the storm was plenty bad enough, as it took something important away from them.

Let us put in into a more realistic perspective, and express gratitude to God for those who remain.

"Every bird that cuts the airy way is an immense world of delight, enclosing the fruitage of the universe."

-William Blake

 

...she compasses the whole world, and penetrates into the vanity, and mere outside (wanting substance and solidity) of it, and stretches herself unto the infiniteness of eternity; and the revolution or restoration of all things after a certain period of time, to the same state and place as before, she fetches about, and doth comprehend in herself; and considers withal, and sees clearly this, that neither they that shall follow us, shall see any new thing, that we have not seen, nor they that went before, anything more than we: but that he that is once come to forty (if he have any wit at all) can in a manner (for that they are all of one kind) see all things, both past and future....     

-Marcus Aurelius