It is a close encounter not only with nature but with the God of nature Himself.
Elwin Deo Arroyo
The hut we’re in shook violently as the howling wind blew hard against it. Although the creaking noise was very annoying, I fell deaf to it. I could do nothing more but slump my body on the floor in utter tiredness. The coldness of the dark night could render anyone helpless in its temptation to deep slumber. Even as I closed my eyes to float away into oblivion, sights and picture of the day’s experience still overwhelmed my thoughts.
As I looked blankly at the flickering flame of the kerosene lamp struggling to stay alit against the tease of the wind, I reflected on how my companions, Allan, a fellow student and Jonas, a professional, and I fought hard to stay alive. The three of us have found shelter at a shanty owned by a widow and her children who warmly welcomed us when we pleaded for help early afternoon.
In his book Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions,Mark Moffett reflects on his early childhood fascination with ants—an interest that didn’t die as he grew older. Moffett’s preoccupation led to his earning a doctorate at Harvard and then embarking on worldwide travel as an expert on the subject. His study has given him marvelous insights about these industrious creatures.
Long before Moffett discovered some of the wonders of the ant world, the Scriptures remarked on the ingenuity and work ethic of these tiny insects. Ants are held up by wise King Solomon as an example of industry for those who tend to be lazy: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain . . . provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest” (Prov. 6:6-8).
God has made Himself known to mankind in a powerful way people often ignore...His creation. Romans 1:18-20 tells us,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
God speaks to people through nature...through His creation. I am confident that there is a point in every person's life where there comes an awareness of God. Whether it is looking at a shooting star, or at a sunset, or at a blade of grass, the thought occurs to them, "This didn't just get here. This didn't just happen. There must be a God."
Every so often, whether it’s after a long hard spate of work, finishing a big project, ending a relationship or recovering from a crisis (big or small) I find myself repeating the same rituals of recovery. If at any point in the process I feel lost or unbound and ungrounded, I just have to get back into the order of this list and all becomes well again. Last week I took some time off from work to recover from a busy few months and it worked again. Maybe it will work for you, too?
I have to confess that if I had the opportunity I would go every other day to some exciting outdoor location, be it a bog, a marsh, a cypress swamp, a desert—or a national park or two! But few folks have that sort of opportunity—including me. What I really do, however, is only an occasional excursion surrounded in time by a lot of mundane activities: walking the dog, walking to work, walking the dog, going to the store, walking the dog, spending time with children and grandchildren, and walking the dog.
“Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands…”
“O no, Dad, not again!”
That was my youthful reaction to my dad’s quoting of the one poem he remembered from eighth grade, the last grade he attended as a farm boy shortly before the First World War. It was the beginning of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s classic, “The Village Blacksmith,” a poem I eventually memorized myself in a time of nostalgia long after my dad’s journey to Glory. He’d quote it whenever any of us kids came home and recited poems we’d learned in school—and then he’d go on with, “You’re a poet and don’t know it; your feet show it—because they’re long fellows”: long feet being something that could be said about most of us boys of Dutch stock.
If you’ve been hanging around WOC for a while, you’ll know that one of my hobbies is making hiking sticks (“staves” to be proper, I guess). I make them from several tree species: maple, oak, hickory, white cedar, white pine, alder, aspen, and ash. Ash and hickory are favorites to make out of freshly cut saplings, in part because in the spring it’s a breeze to strip the bark from them—which is really just for aesthetics, not for any structural purpose. In fact, leaving the bark on makes them a bit stronger. Yet ash and hickory are still tough, stripped or not.
Sunday, April 22, will be the 42nd Earth Day. I celebrated the 1st one in 1970 with the then typical “conservative” scoffing. I celebrated the 20th one in 1990 manning a booth for my fledgling organization, the Christian Nature Federation, at Knott’s Berry Farm in Orange County, California. And Providence placed us right next to the Captain Planet “Save the Earth” stage show developed and funded by Ted Turner; so parents and grandparents who took their kids and grandkids to that crassly humanistic theatrical production had only to look a little to the left to see our huge banner: “Save the Earth: Honor its Creator.”
I believe the key element in our recovering the lost theology of beauty—a loss that is evident in our often insensitive and utilitarian approach to the natural world—is to recognize that the beauty of the created world is evidence of the Creator himself. It’s significant that in the Genesis creation account the first fact mentioned about the trees of the garden was that they were “pleasing to the eye” (Gen. 2:9). Yes, they were “good for food,” but apparently what was most striking to the new dwellers of Eden was their beauty.
How do you feel if you are in the middle of life threatening storm ? How will you react to the situation? Where would you go for help? Let us look at how the disciples of Jesus reacted when they were faced with such storm. Jesus calming the storm is one of the most dramatic miracles of Jesus Christ. This incident is mentioned in Mark, Matthew and Luke. But we will be mostly focusing on gospel of Mark.
Q. Mark 4:35 starts with ‘that’ day. Which day is he talking about?
The day started with chapter 4, when Jesus started teaching the crowd. He taught them lots of stories and parables and performed many miracles.
If you are sensitive to your environment, the color of your curtains, your rug, your bedding and the walls that surround you can influence how you feel when you're trying to relax before falling asleep.
The psychological effects of color have not been studied extensively and the results of those studies performed have not always been consistent. But psychologists and artists alike agree that color can have a powerful impact on your emotions, and that impact may be positive or negative.
For instance, red is an intense color that some people associate with passion and eroticism, but color experts at Cornell University point out that red can also evoke uncomfortable feelings of anger and aggression. Either way, red is not what anyone would call a calming, restful color.
Violet is another passionate color, associated with fantasy and playfulness but since it's a mixed color, it may or may not be conducive to sleep. Red-violet may have too much "fire" whereas a blue-violet may have a more calming effect. Yellow may not be passionate or deep, but it is a lively, "sunshiny" color that is more likely to convey feelings of arousal and wakefulness than serenity and restfulness.
Green, because of its predominance in nature, represents life, stability, and restfulness. Most people consider green a pleasant color that evokes calm feelings. Blue is also considered a tranquil color that has a quieting effect on most people. Many people paint their bedroom walls white because it is a neutral, pure, and clean "non-color" that evokes passive feelings, if any at all.
The psychological effect of a particular color can change if the shade of that color is changed, or if that color is used with other colors that make it appear brighter or more intense. For instance, a yellow wall might appear much brighter if it is contrasted with royal blue curtains than if the curtains are an earthier shade of green. The shade and saturation of a color also affects how it is perceived.
In general, cool colors such as blue, green, blue-green, and blue-violet are considered peaceful and calming, while warm colors such as red, orange, orange-red, yellow, and yellow-orange are considered to be more festive and arousing.
However, a study on the psychological effects of color, published in a 2007 issue of theJournal of Experimental Psychology, pointed out that, for some people, a particular color may provoke a sense memory from some long-ago association, or have a strong cultural or religious meaning. That can explain why your perception of a color, and how it affects you, may be very different from someone else's experience of that same hue.
Sources:Brown University: The How and Why of Optical Illusions-Color Effects. Web. 18 May 2011 http://www.cs.brown.edu/~deus/courses/optical/Color1.htmElliot, AJ et al; "Color and Psychological Functioning: The Effect of Red on Performance Attainment." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2007 136(1):1 54-168. Web. 18 May 2011
Sunday, April 22, will be the 42nd Earth Day. I celebrated the 1st one in 1970 with the then typical “conservative” scoffing. I celebrated the 20th one in 1990 manning a booth for my fledgling organization, the Christian Nature Federation, at Knott’s Berry Farm in Orange County, California. And Providence placed us right next to the Captain Planet “Save the Earth” stage show developed and funded by Ted Turner; so parents and grandparents who took their kids and grandkids to that crassly humanistic theatrical production had only to look a little to the left to see our huge banner: “Save the Earth: Honor its Creator.”
