As I write, the snowdrops have finally begun to bloom out of the dark earth; there has been the faint scent of spring when the sun shines and the first shoots of daffodils are appearing from the ground.
Since 2020, these things that happen every year have taken on a new meaning to me. They transport me back to those early days of the pandemic when fear hung in the air like smog and we huddled in our homes, allowed outside for only an hour a day.
All of a sudden, the things that I’d never noticed looked all the more beautiful. I remember being deeply moved when I stumbled across some flowers breaking through the cracks in the pavement and wondering what was happening to me.
I’ve always been an indoors kind of person, I like books and coffee, away from pollen and in air that my asthmatic lungs can breathe easily. But the pandemic changed things for me. I stayed inside the boundaries of my flat and our abandoned car park 24/7 for the those first twelve weeks as I, like many others were advised to. I began to crave the wide open spaces and when I tentatively left my house I was astounded by the way the spring had sprung without my noticing.
After many years dormant, my sense of wonder had been reawakened, helped endlessly as I began to glimpse the world through my son’s eyes and I caught his own amazement as that warm summer unfolded around him (including a snail which so fascinated him that he brought it to me with his finger wedged into its’ slimy home – but I won’t dwell on that!)
In a world of instant gratification and curated perfection, there is something about the slow unfurling of natural beauty that reminds us of the rhythms we were made for.
And perhaps what the natural world has taught me most is to pay attention – or in the words of Mary Oliver: “Pay attention / Be astonished / Tell about it.”
It’s something we are notoriously bad at as humans. We are easily distracted by what is around us and what is within us. And yet we know that paying attention to the present moment is good for us. The NHS’ “Five Ways to Wellbeing” encourages us to ‘Take Notice’ of what is surrounding us by being mindful.
All too often christians have dismissed mindfulness due to its perceived origins – and yet the christian mystics, indeed the writers of the Bible. encouraged the practice of mindfulness before the word was even coined.
Psalm 46 encourages us to:
“Be still and know, that I am God”
Whilst Psalm 143 says:
“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”
These verses to me reveal again how compassionate our God is – that He shapes worship in such a way that it benefits us as we glorify Him.
For me, I find mindfulness easier when I am in awe of creation; just a video of the waves meeting the shore can enable me to remember the rhythm of my breathing and focus on what is right in front of me rather than all that storms within me. Not ignoring the storm but choosing to shift my attention means that just for a few moments I can find calm through otherwise turbulent times.
So I guess that is my encouragement for you as you read, that you may find space in your life to be astonished by the beauty there is in our broken world. To notice the handiwork of God and share it in our communities.
If you’d like to write a guest blog sharing your personal story, email susan@creationlifeadventure.co.uk or fill in the webform