Have you ever wondered what life lessons we can glean from nature to apply into our lives for better connection and mental well-being?
I find that being out in nature and free of the distractions of busyness and technology, I am free to slow down enough for my thoughts to have room to breathe and just unfold. This is something that I fear we don’t have enough of these days as we rush from one thing to the next.
It is making us ill. Physically ill. Mentally ill.
We are not simply ‘biological’ beings. God placed within us a soul that was designed to connect with him, with others, with the beautiful world around us. Through this we learn, we are fulfilled, we experience peace and joy.
Yet our modern lives have us distracted and our time and thoughts occupied with more than one ‘thing’ at a time. Do we know how to rest? Do we know how to lean into the empty spaces and allow our thoughts to unfold?
God Speaks To Us In Our Season
Our homeschooling years, and in particular our Charlotte Mason inspired nature studies, helped me to develop a habit of observing the small things in my environment. The say the sun catches my garden as it rises. The shadows and sunlight puddles that tumble through the doors and come to rest on the floor in my dining room on a winter’s afternoon. Watching the squirrels steal nuts from the bird feeder and then hurry away to bury it in the garden, all the while glancing around to make sure no other squirrel is watching where he stores his ill-gained treasure.
Often, I find that in these simple observations, God speaks to me in the season that I am in.
When hanging out the washing on a bright, yet cold day a few weeks back, by eye was caught by a splash of purple.
This sweet little plant has made its home in a crack on my patio. I love how it seems to be thriving and it’s pretty purple flowers look fabulous against the white wall. It stands out and makes a statement even though it is so small. It seems quite happy and content with where it is.
This moment, the thoughts that softly entered my mind as I was hanging out the washing and looking at this little plant is the point I’m trying to make here. I find that nature can often be a great teacher. So many lessons observed in nature can be applied to our lives.
This little plant for example, living in such an unexpected place under less than ideal conditions is doing just what God intended it to do and doing so looking beautiful.
I am reminded that each of us, no matter our importance or influence (or lack of) by worldly standards, we have a role and a purpose and that we are to ‘bloom where we are planted’ and very much embrace our purpose and the opportunities that come our way.
This little plant is to put out delicate purple flowers and even through its home is a crack in a paving stone and not an abundant bed filled with rich loamy soil, it is doing what it is purposed to do in the time it is to do it.
Then there’s the lesson of hope in what is to come
I see this in the garden. Right now the garden is entering it’s hibernation phase as winter sets in. But I know that time will pass and once again the season for growth and abundance will come. I can expect flowers on the raspberry shoots and on the tomato plants. Each will yield fruit in its season, ripening to nourish our bodies.
Our own lives should be bearing fruit but I am reminded that there is a process that goes on before we actually see that fruit. First there is a stage of dormancy and rest. Nothing seems to be happening but a time of quietness and resting is needed for the growth that is to come.
Are your roots firmly in the Word of God?
Are you drawing up and storing it’s goodness, making ready for the growing and fruiting season? Is the fruit to come useful to others? Will it nourish their souls and build them up. How important each stage of this process is. I’ve been viewing the dormant/resting stage as ‘less than ideal’ because by nature, I have the overwhelming need to always plan and know exactly where I am going in life. But that’s not true at all. It would only be less than ideal if I never moved out of this stage.
The Lesson of Abundance
If I am faithful to put my roots in Christ then I will have an abundant life.
In the seasonal year, from May onward, I notice how abundant everything is. The plants are flowering, the hedgerows reach out and touch the car as we drive down the lane. The Hedgerows are packed with plants that offer free food; elderflowers, blackberries, nettles.
Birds, butterflies and insects have made their home in the hedgerows and as we walk or drive along the way they dart across our paths. So different to November with it’s bare tree branches, icy winds and lashing rains.
In each season of life, God offers us abundance if we trust in Him.
Who we choose to associate with matters
This year I placed my tomato plants next to my lavender shrubs for no reason other than that spot receives the most sun and I quite like the look of them there.
It had an unexpected benefit that I had not foreseen. My tomato plants were about the healthiest they have ever been.
They did not succumbed to any pests or mildew such is usually the case. They were strong, healthy and thriving.
Likewise, who we choose to plant and root ourselves with, makes a difference to the health of our lives.
Do we have people in our lives that literally suck the life out of us, that criticise, break-down and discourage? Or are the people we surround ourselves with encouraging, kind and help build us up to be a better person?
Do you ponder on such things? I sometimes wonder if I’m a bit strange when I relate weeds in my garden to weeds in my heart and that sort of thing. I would love to hear your thoughts on lessons you have drawn from nature, your garden or the world around you.
Blessings to you all today…
