Last year, I was driving along the mountain road towards New Tredegar from Tredegar; as I snaked up the pass, I went into a dense fog, the type that reminded you that you technically live up a mountain. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shape of something that shouldn’t have been because, at that point, on my right was quite a steep drop. I found a beautiful bird of prey, probably just a buzzard there. That glimpse woke me out of my hurried mind and into something bigger: how beautiful and unexpected the world is. It also made me want to thank God for the beauty of nature. As I drove, my eyes were opened to what I needed to do and the beauty around me, making me thankful for where I live and where I am.
Do you take time to look up? From where you are driving to or even out of your window while washing up? We live in a beautiful part of the world, but we can get complacent and too busy to enjoy it. I encourage you to admire where you live, probably not while driving. (I want you to be safe).
The Bible speaks of the nature of a place that speaks of God’s presence, like in Romans 1:20: “Since the world’s creation, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” This passage shows that God’s beauty can be revealed in creation. After all, it’s all God’s handy work.
I encourage you this month and year to look up to what is going on around you in nature. It is good for your health. A study found spending 120 minutes a week in nature had good health benefits.[1] so take time in nature, go on an adventure, take a short walk, or just find time to admire the beauty around where we live.
For more ideas about what you can do, check out Arocha’s website:
N.B.
Over the next year, we will explore this with our churches and look at ways to care for creation and help our churches be more ecologically aware.
[1] White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J. et al. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and well-being. Sci Rep 9, 7730 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3