Sunday Musings: Nature and Faith

Benevolence that communicates love. This is what I see at the heart of nature, and this is one of things that undergirds my Christian faith. 

I took this photo earlier this week with my new zoom lens. I sat in our backyard watching the birds at the feeder for a couple of hours. At the time, I was actually more focused on getting a good shot than what I am attempting to communicate here. Yet often, when I am busy working in the kitchen and happen  to glance out at the birds feeding, I have this sense of what some might refer to as transcendence—something genuine and wholesome being communicated as they patiently sit and fill their bellies. I am almost hesitant to speak of such things because it feels like words fail to communicate the beauty and wonder of nature and the meaning that might be found behind it.

Of course I realize that people of many faiths or none at all experience the same feelings and sense of wonder when they encounter nature, and I am not attempting to make a logical argument for Christian faith based on nature. (I am actually not a big fan of using logic and rational thought as the primary tool for understanding faith.) However, I thought that it might be a good exercise for me, personally, to take some time to reflect on my faith and what are the major players that contribute to it. And, yes, I realize that there are aspects of nature that are dark, violent, survivalist. All I’ll say in response is that I get the sense that, as with humans, those things are not the main thing and it all has to do with how we see.

“If you more closely contemplate every creature, from the first to the last, from the highest to the lowest, from the loftiest angel to the lowliest worm, you will surely discover divine goodness - which we have called nothing other than divine charity - which contains, enfolds, and penetrates all things, not by pouring into a place, or being diffused in space, or by nimbly moving about, but by the steady, mysterious, and self-contained simplicity of its substantial presence.” Aelred of Rievaulx

How about you? What truths come forward for you when you engage with nature?