Posts Tagged: Annie Dillard

“APPRECIATING NATURE”

On September 13, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I like (and need) to make lists.  One of the lists I frequently make is a gratitude list.  Sometimes, I feel challenged by God to concentrate on specific kinds of things for which I am thankful.  Today, it was nature.  I found it a stretch.  It was difficult for me to come up with fifty specific things from nature for which I am grateful.

This is ironic and disturbing, since I grew up on a farm in southern Ohio and spent most of my time outside.  I loved nature—or at least most of it.  I was never a big snake person.

In fact, I think my dad thought I loved nature a bit too much.  When I was little, I used to pray sometimes before we ate our meals.  My dad said, on at least one occasion, “Our food gets cold while this boy thanks God for the grass and flowers and weeds!”

Guilty as charged, I’m afraid.

So, why has it become so difficult (unnatural?) now to be thankful for natural things?  After doing my thanksgiving list this morning, I wrote in my journal, “Doing these thanksgivings has made me more aware of how unaware I am.  Do I really notice my natural surroundings?  How much do I know about this lovely planet?  How deeply do I cherish it?”

Like all really good questions, these are profoundly unsettling.  And like all good questions, there may be no easy answers.  We need to live with good questions, even when living with them is difficult.

So, here is what I plan to do differently today: I will notice things.  I will ask them questions about how they are doing, and then I will listen for their response.  The question is not, “Can plants, animals, and inanimate objects speak?”  Rather, the question is, “Will I choose to listen?”

Some years ago, Annie Dillard wrote a book titled, Teaching a Stone to Talk.  The title comes from a thirty-year-old man who lived on the same island where Dillard lived at the time.  The man lived by himself with a stone that he was trying to teach to talk.

Crazy?  Maybe, but then again, maybe not.  Jesus spoke of stones talking (Luke 19:40).  “But that was just a metaphor!  Right?”

Maybe.  Sometimes, I think that we call things “just metaphors” whenever they sit uncomfortably with what we think we already know.

Psalm 19:1-2 tells us that “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known” (New Living Translation).  The Hebrew word which is here translated “continues” is a word which may suggest an uncontrollable gushing forth.

So, join me in staying alert today  Notice nature, even if it’s just that dratted creeping charlie that is taking over your lawn.

, , , , , , , , , , ,
Follow on Feedly