Natural Setting: Noland Trail

A heron is perched on a fallen tree, looking over the water. Its head is tucked in, almost as if it is bracing itself against the brisk wind blowing across the water. It turns its head, looking straight at me, practically acknowledging my presence, instinctually knowing that I was there. Does the heron know I am watching it? That the words going on my paper all about him? Stretching out its neck, he scratches his wing before returning to his original position. I find myself silently urging the heron to fly, knowing from experience his majesty as he glides across the water. I check quickly between writing words to make sure that he is still there, that I will not miss the majestic moment. Maybe too often we look to the wild for the moments of beauty, captured on camera, the good story for when we return to civilization, witnessing the exception to the norm. But in doing so we ignore the awesome nature of rhythm and relationship. The way a heron stands on a tree, perched over the water, feathers blowing in the wind, warmed by the sun. All of those elements working together for the duration instantaneous. And me, am I a part of all that? Did the heron's silent approval bring me into that relationship, also being warmed by the sun, seeing the heron, and the heron seeing me as a reciprocal sacred perception? If I am a part, I am certainly not the center but instead another part of a continual creation. And what does this say about the creator? He is relational and constant, bringing us to one another in experience and stillness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student Choice #1

This semester, I have found myself most Sunday afternoons feeling stuck. I don't want to use my mind and I don't want to move off my couch. Nothing seems to sink in past surface level and I would simply scroll through Facebook, not taking in any information but merely skimming. I heard someone once describe this feeling as the "fog of war." Battling with negativity, artificiality, and cynicism for too long leads to this lethargic state of in between, not giving up but not contributing, lukewarm in the truest sense of the word. I wonder if part of the solution to this "fog of war" is to simply be around something that is real. Something that is created. To feel the wind, even if it is bitter cold. To listen to a piece of music that is so beautiful or tragic that it brings tears to your eyes. To touch a tree or a blade of grass. To watch an ant crawl across the sidewalk. To see the sunset or to feel the rain fall. When I am surrounded by screens and walls and ...
Read more

Landscapes of the Sacred #2

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Ch. 10 discusses the tension between place and placelessness is Christian Spirituality. It discusses the two approaches to sacred place: kataphatic and apophatic.  Kataphatic rejoices in discerning the presence of God in the “thisness” of various places [place] while a pophatic: skeptical of an image’s ability to contain the mystery of the Holy [placelessness]. In one specific section, The Christian Imagination and a Theology of Place, Lane discusses how God is here, but not only here. He writes, “A theology of transcendance will never be comfortable with place.” He goes on to describe 5 “motifs by which the religious imagination is able to ‘create’ places or landscapes that become embodied means of experiencing the divine presence.” The first comes from John Calvin, he “spoke of the natural world as a theater full of wonders in which God’s glory becomes apparent..” The second is n ature as a ‘second book’ alongside scripture as a way to read the presen...
Read more

It All Begins With Praise - Phenomenology of Prayer

When talking about the elements of prayer, the author of The Phenomenology of Prayer claims that praise is where we need to start. Prayer is the "deepest decentering of the the self." Prayer should begin with adoration, acknowledging the power of the higher being. From the faith background in which I was raised, the idea of removing yourself from the center of the universe (humiliating yourself) and putting God at the center is how to live a spirit-filled life. Wholeheartedly yielding yourself to the Spirit is no easy feat, Galatians 5 explains that the desires of the flesh (personal projects) are against the desires of the Spirit (wholly other's projects). This ongoing struggle is the life of one who has faith in Jesus. The more time spent praising God in prayer, the more preoccupied one will become with God and submitting to his will, empowered by the Spirit, will then become our project.
Read more