Today's quotation:

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.

Jimmy Carter

Today's Meditation:

I'm afraid that since Jimmy spoke these words, the concept of honoring nature's gifts has taken quite a beating, especially here in America.  We've gone from being more ecology-minded to driving Humvees and SUV's, putting much more pollution in the air than we would if we drove cars that got good mileage, and in the meantime killing millions more trees than would have died otherwise, putting tons more pollutants in the air than we would have otherwise, and using up more fossil fuels than we would have otherwise.

And that's just what we're doing with fossil fuels.  Plastics?  Waste?  Landfills?  In the very large picture, there's little evidence that we're honoring anything at all that life has given us through its gift of nature.

That said, how can I make a difference?  Of course, the only difference that I truly can make is in what I do personally, and I can hope that others see the model and respond well to it, that there's some sort of ripple effect caused by my actions.  It's not healthy or helpful for me to worry about what other people are doing when I have no control over their actions; I can only do and be what and who I feel called to do and be.

If peace and love can prevail on the earth, they will do so in the small ways--ways that can come from you.  We'll teach our children to honor the gifts of nature through our examples--and that's an example that you can set, if you but choose to do so.

For further thought:

If only we know, boss, what the stones and rain and flowers say.  Maybe they call--call us--and we don't hear them.  When will people's ears open, boss?  When shall we have our eyes open to see?  When shall we open our arms to embrace everything--stones, rain, flowers, and people?  What do you think about that, boss?  And what do your books have to say about that?

Nikos Kazantzakis

more thoughts and ideas on nature

All contents © Living Life Fully, all rights reserved.