Nature and God

Who is the cutest? The flowers or The Littles? I know which one I pick!

What better way to celebrate the Spring Equinox than being outside! We had such a busy day on Saturday and the kids had so much fun picking Buttercups for mom. :) The Littles also had a great time helping me to rake the leaves from the front beds. They worked so hard!! It was refreshing to see so much green hiding under those leaves. I also notices many trees in my yard starting to bud and give way to little tiny leaves!!! No wonder my allergies and everyone else's in the house has gone nuts. :( Oh, well!

Being outside on Saturday got me really inspired to start planning some nature studies. I think we will start with plants, then birds, then insects. We are in the planning and preparing stages of our veg garden; and I purchased some herbs this weekend. My kids have always been involved in planting everything, but this year I really want the older ones to get an understanding of plant stucture and how they live. Who knows, there may be a botanist hiding in my midst somewhere! I think I already know that Jennifer is going to be a geologists or paleontologist, or something to do with dirt. She loves to find worms and bugs and ROCKS, and to just dig! I can't tell you how many rocks, leaves, and acorns I have found inside this house from that girl!

I love being outside and find that I just can't concentrate very well on a pretty day, being couped up inside the house. I was just reading in the CM Companion about her views on being outdoors..."There is no kind of knowledge to be had in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves, of the world they live in. Let them at once get into touch with nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We are all meant to be naturalists, each to his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world too full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." One of the most disturbing ideas to me of this culture we live in is how far away most people are from nature. To me, to be far away from nature is to be absent of the Spirit of God within all of us. We are all made from this earth, no matter what religion or belief system you hold. To distance yourself from nature is to forget where you come from and what Great Power put you here. So I want to teach my children that this planet we live on is living indeed, such as ourselves, and should be respected, studied and cared for. We have been given a great gift from God and should take great care of it. I get aggravated sometimes because I find that many "Christians" tend to turn away from "protecting" the earth for fear of being called a tree hugger. Really? You are afraid of a name? Do you not love the shade and OXYGEN that these living creatures give to you? Do you not realize how many habitats there are in a tree giving protection to many of God's creation? And to recycle something makes you a hippie? Well maybe we need more hippies! Why do you want to put something in a mountain of trash only to still find it there 100 years from now (oh, wait, our next generations will find it and have to do something with it...yeah, let's just leave it for them). Now I can tell you I'm preaching to the choir right now too...I can and should do a better job of taking care of my habitat, and will use this learning experience for myself to teach my children as well.

So those are my deep thoughts for today. Get outside and get dirty! Get outside and find God!!