How Do We Reciprocate the Grace of Nature?
Green Thursday
Hey, there, my friends, and Happy Green Thursday! Green Thursdays are our designated day for communing with nature, when we contemplate how we humans build a more mutually beneficial relationship with our natural world; today is no different. Specifically, today, we are considering ways to reciprocate the Gifts and Grace of nature. But, you know what we need first, right? Let’s Get Inspired, shall we?!!!
Today’s Inspiration: We all need to see the good that is constantly happening in our world, so we have a round-up of inspiring stories each and every day from the KarunaNews website. KarunaNews | Responding with Compassion The links take you to a short summary and offer the option to read the entire story. (I may have featured some of these before, but they’re definitely worth another look!)
Flip-Flop Art Helps Clean Kenya's Beaches (karunanews.org)
Couple 'Flower-Bombs' Streets Of San Francisco (karunanews.org)
He Fishes For Plastic In The Mediterranean (karunanews.org)
Compassionate Family Saves Senior Dog From Euthanasia (karunanews.org)
Quotes of the Day:
Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.
— John Updike
Petals don't ask
Where to land
They just fall
With grace.— Sheniz Janmohamed
All flowers are not to be picked; some are meant to stay rooted so their beauty may continue to sing praises unto nature.
— Grace Terrell
Today’s Probing Question: How do we reciprocate the gifts and grace of nature?
We’ve been exploring the quality of Grace this week and now we turn our lens to Grace and the natural world. Today’s question, you might notice is slightly different than the other days this week and there’s a reason for that.
It seems to me that grace is inherent in nature; the gifts of nature flow to us constantly, both the tangible ones, like the food we eat, and the intangible, like the beauty that nourishes our souls. Nature is constantly gracing us with her gifts and so today’s question is how we humans reciprocate that grace.
This is a variation on the same basic question I keep asking around this Leveling Up theme and it strikes me that the answer is the same as my usual one. The way we reciprocate, or at least get started with reciprocating, is to notice the Gifts and Grace and be grateful for them. Gratitude may seem like a small thing, but it’s not. When gratitude infuses our consciousness, we can’t help but behave differently. I contend that gratitude opens us to reverence for the gifts of nature and from that place our relationship changes. Nature ceases to be an ATM, constantly dispensing resources for us to consume and instead becomes the giver of precious gifts. The awareness of this infuses our relationship with our natural world with Grace.
Take Action:
Pick a day, or better yet a week, to pay attention to the Gifts and Grace of nature. You might create a meditative question to ask yourself repeatedly through the week to help you engage this reflection. It might be something like, “How am I benefiting from nature right now?” Or, “What do I most appreciate about the natural world in this moment?” The goal is to keep bringing our awareness back to the natural world, pausing to notice it, and being grateful for its Gifts and Grace.
·Please share a comment with your meditative question, and/or your experiences of being grateful for the Gifts and Grace of nature.
When we become grateful for the amazing gifts of nature, Grace infuses our relationship with our natural world. Who doesn’t want to live in that constant state of Grace?
Original Art Banner by Ves Huerta. See Ves’ Etsy Shop HERE.
With support from Big Fish Virtual Administration.