Nature – Visions of God

The last few days I’ve been planting the flowers for my writing sanctuary. When we bought the house, the deck outside the kitchen had a smaller, narrower space five steps down. Too narrow for a picnic table, it was really just a walkway into the back yard. A few years ago, we put our porch swing on this little deck, barely wide enough, but I liked it there.

Next, I hung a flower. basket Then we stuck the chimenea in an empty corner by the steps with flowers hanging out of the fire hole and a potted geranium atop its chimney. Sitting on the swing, I enjoyed God’s gorgeous flowers. A couple of window boxes along the railing finished it off. Over time, I added a few more pots on the floor. The space was transformed. Under the retractable awning or out in the sun, it became a room full of flowers. It was beautiful and so it has remained for the last five years – my writing sanctuary.

On May 5, I underwent surgery. The surgeon, with his carpentry tools replaced my worn-out knee with a new one. Six weeks later, I am walking without a limp. Most of my pain is nerve pain from the swelling. As I recuperated from my knee surgery, many flowers came as gifts from friends and family – for my birthday, for Mothers’ Day, or just “because.” Tom and I have planted Million Bells and salvia in boxes on the railing and in the chiminea, pansies on the deck, and begonias in the shade. Each morning, the sun kisses them all. Wonder of wonders, I can stand up and sit down, climb onto and off the porch swing without pain. God’s beauty surrounds me as a I write. God brings healing to our bodies, to our hearts, to our minds. We can receive the love, the comfort, the skill and nurture that God created in us and through those called to be healers.

This past week, Rev. Nancy of Keene United Church in a morning reflection, quoted world renowned architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, “Nature is all the body of God we mortals will ever see.”  What could be a better vision of God than the splendor, the beauty, the joy of our natural world?

For the next month I challenge you to open your eyes and hearts and see the wonder of God all around you. As summer arrives, there is no better time than to soak in God’s loving, beautiful body and know you are wrapped in God’s arms. Thanks be to God.