I love summer. Especially here in Colorado; it never really gets as hot as the rest of the country, so we’re able to enjoy a lot of outdoors activities without any of the drawbacks. I’ve been walking nearly every day. Sometimes I walk around our neighborhood, but if I can, I love to drive across the highway and walk up by the mountain. We used to live on the west side, up against the mountains, and our house used to back up to Pike National forest. It’s a prime place for hiking. There are many great paths, some of which are tiring of course, because many of the best trails go straight up the mountain, with very short switchbacks, but so worth it to be able to stand at 8500 feet and look out over miles and miles of beautiful Colorado mountaintops one way, and the fertile plains the other. I haven’t had the time yet this year to do anything but a small walk around the base of the mountain, so I’m a bit overripe for a challenging trek. Perhaps I’ll write about it here when I get around to it.
Today, I helped a couple family members plant some flowers, and till flowerbeds in anticipation of summer blooms and beautiful beds. I wasn’t super excited about it, but as soon as I got on my hands and knees and started getting dirty and grimy and messing around in the soil, I began to really enjoy it. It’s an odd thing, working the earth; it shouldn’t be fun, but it is. It’s so fulfilling to begin to see the work of your hands come to fruition. There is so much complexity to the natural world. I love the process that goes into planting; watering, loosening up the soil, cleaning away weeds and unwanted plants, cutting back some of the stems yet to bloom, carefully, laying down new topsoil. Strangely enough, I found that the more I worked, and the dirtier I got, the more I felt like I was doing something useful and meaningful. I think there’s a real beauty in cultivating the earth. It’s one of God’s first commandments; “subdue the earth”. I’m beginning to realize what an interesting process that is.
Onto my final point. I’ve heard a lot of discussion lately about this one topic that you all have heard (and if you haven’t, you need to get out more). It’s called global warming; a lot of people think it’s rather important, but it is an issue which for some people, seems to be quite stigmatizing. I mean, who can blame them? When everyone first started to get all excited about it a few years ago, Al Gore wrote a book about it, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for it (bah. Ridiculous; but I guess being a celebrity is worth more nowadays). Hollywood put out the movie, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, a movie about how humans cause the world to go into a chaotic massive worldwide natural disaster, because of their waste and their consumption of natural resources. Well what am I supposed to get from that? Since I’m using a refrigerator and I drive a car, I’m going to cause New York to ice over, and Hollywood to be destroyed by tornadoes? There is good reason that this is a polarized issue. Our culture is good at finding things to feel guilty about, and this is one that the pundits are spinning like crazy (not to mention ex-vice president celebrities).
Unfortunately, it is true. We probably are exorbitant and indulgent, and we really ought to be more aware of our world of which we’ve been given stewardship by God.
However, to help make my point, am I going to tell you to go out and watch ‘The Day After Tomorrow’? No. Unless you want to see a meaningless popcorn flick. And please, I beg you, don’t give in by buying ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ (unless you truly feel it is meaningful beyond the celebrity and hype attached to it). However, in light of the greater meaning of this post, I’d like to suggest a way to become excited about the environment without reading a picture book on pollution and greenhouse gasses: Go on a hike, or a long walk in a wild place near where you live. Or if not that, start a garden and plant some flowers. It’ll amaze you how much God’s beauty in nature will endear you to itself. It’s a work of art, and in respecting that art of God, we add to the beauty of our lives, and protect what God has given to us as a stewardship. I think personal involvement will help anyone in any situation; guilt about environmentalism hasn’t made me any more interested in it; going out into nature and feasting on the richness of wildlife and the growing world makes me so desire to protect and defend such a beautiful masterpiece.
So go out and enjoy what is all around us; and see if you don’t fall in love with the natural world that God has given us.
2 Comments
June 11, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Just recently someone asked me what my favorite scent was, and I was a bit undecided, but one of my top three was the smell of earth. Gardening is so relaxing, the natural beauty so refreshing. But I have to disagree with the weeding bit, that drives me mad.
Concerning Rosie Thomas, so much of her stuff I enjoy, but if I have to choose, I love “When We Were Small” and also “If Songs Could Be Held.” Enjoy! :]
June 17, 2008 at 4:51 am
Well, I’m not so fond of the weeds either. But the other more interesting aspects help to lessen the irritation that weeds bring.
And you’re spot on, the smell of earth is divine. Especially during or after a good rain. I’d go outside during a rainstorm, just for the smell.
Thanks for the suggestions! I might give “If Songs Could be Held” a try; it sounds so nice from the iTunes clips.