Grandpa's Garden: Summer Moments

Once, during my college years, I had a summer job on campus. To provide for local transportation, I quickly traveled home and retrieved my old bicycle, dusted it off, and took it back to school. I often traveled a dirt road that passed through a large field surrounded by woodland. It was a quiet exercise in solitude, and it was beautiful.

In the early morning, the dew glistened on the grasses, and at dusk, the mist rose from the earth and saturated the air. I always felt uplifted moving across that green expanse.

For a number of years, when I was teaching, I had a long and tiring commute. Almost home, I traveled along a bay shoreline where the river began opening to the sea. I felt the day’s tension ease every time I passed that vista. I suppose it could have been due to being close to home, or perhaps the view found a home within me.

The Simple, Quiet Movements In Our Lives

As they were growing up, I hope we taught our children to take a moment now and then and appreciate how they feel in the natural world, to find rest in the rustle of leaves, the song of birds, the scent of pine, the warmth of the sun, or the breath of a breeze.

As we progress in our spiritual lives, I think it’s valuable to learn to listen to our thoughts, feelings, and what our hearts tell us.

Lord of Creation

Interaction with natural surroundings can heighten our senses and deepen our listening to our interior life. We can practice being receptive and aware of how we respond to what we sense, feel, and think. These skills can be a gateway to contemplative prayer. Our place in creation is where our prayer begins. We might think of it as the ground of our prayer, a wordless encounter with something beautiful. Creation teaches us to take a moment, to wait, listen, feel, and discover what the Creator is doing for us, where He has placed us, and how He continues to awaken us.

“In green pastures he makes me lie down;

to still waters he leads me;

he restores my soul.

He guides me along right paths…” (Psalm 23:2-3)

In our family prayer, let us pray for the grace to let God’s Spirit teach us to take a moment, wait, listen, feel, and discover all that God provides us.