Let nature be your comforter

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This is a collection of thoughts and reflections I have gathered upon my long walks whilst in quarantine. I hope you can find meaning and understanding within them and if anything, take away the idea that nature is - and forever will be your comforter. 
Through thought, I have drawn upon the teachings of St Francis of Assisi for he is the Patron saint of animals and ecology. St Francis spent time with nature which helped him hear the call of God. Francis models an ecological consciousness, a spiritual and mystical vision of all creatures as brother and sister having one source in God the Creator and offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation. I relate to St Francis for he had a love for birds, as many of you might know I love birding, even now as I write this in my voice notes whilst I am walking, I am on the look out for some swifts. That brings me to my point, the usual imagery of St Francis is surrounded by birds and I have noticed during lock down one thing, the bird songs are louder than ever!  I hope to think that it is the sound of the earth rejoicing for it is healing even if we are suffering. For the birds they sing in bliss, a song of their own and I believe we can take inspiration from this to sing a song of our own. During lock down we can work on improving ourselves, be our own person and that doesn't mean being the most productive ever, but by simply just being. Its okay to do nothing, its okay to pause and look around, regather. So stop and look around, don't think just listen, for this life around you is pretty amazing and so are you - recognise that for me.
I believe that St Francis would ask us, to turn to nature and hopefully most of you already have.  Upon spending more time with and surrounded by nature I have not only established, but allowed a connection to flourish. For such a long time I relied on nature to get me through tough times in my own personal journey - I knew that even if I couldn’t find beauty in myself, I could find it in the world around me. But now, more than ever I believe nature is humankind's crutch - not just my own. I am lucky to be able to lean on this crutch as the countryside is right on my doorstep. However, I know for many of you who live in more urban areas feel rather distant from nature but I can assure you its everywhere. Gardens, parks, driveways even stone walls! My usual motto is to take a closer look, look for the small things, you never know what you might find. I usually look out for fungi as I find it so absurd and usually I describe them as organic gems of the woods. If you have been following my social media recently I have been documenting the growth of 'chicken of the woods' or sulphur shelf - a yellow fungi that grows from a small blob into an array of shelf like structures. How you turn to nature is up to you to, it could be just walks, gardening or like me bird watching. No matter how you turn to nature, always treat it with respect, admire it take pride in the world around you. 

Saint Francis offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation.
- Blessed Pope John Paul II
 In my previous posts under titles 'observe' and 'nature to nurture: a bit about mental health and nature' (relevant links below) I have expressed that you should immerse yourself in nature and during these unprecedented times an opportunity has been given to you to do just that. I am not usually optimistic, I am far from it but perhaps - there is a silver lining to this pandemic. For the earth is becoming healthy once again and there is so much evidence for it. Not only that, but within sickness humanity is healing for we are remembering what it is like to be human again. To be connected with each other, with brother sun, sister water and mother earth that we have been so far removed from, and now this is our chance! As our connection with each other is temporarily lost this is our chance to reconnect with the earth.

I try to be somewhat reflective and philosophical in my posts (what can I say, I like to think) and I am not even sure if this one is even coherent, I suppose that's up to you to decide. However, if there is one thing that I want you to take from this is that nature is your comforter, she is your blanket of joy and she always will be for nature is a grand creation and we should not take it for granted. Practice gratitude, practice care, show love just like St Francis. So with that in mind,I leave you with this quote:

"My brother birds, you should greatly praise your Creator, and love Him always. He gave you feathers to wear, wings to fly, and whatever you need. God made you noble among His creatures and gave you a home in the purity of the air so that though you neither sow nor reap, He nevertheless protects and governs you without your least care."





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