The peace of wild things

This morning I got up early and drove out into the countryside to do one of my favourite walks.

I walked across fields.

And saw trees – branches bare, but leaves just beginning to bud.

And heard bird song.

And disturbed deer

And felt the wind.

It was glorious.

One of my favourite poems is this one – it’s by American farmer, environmentalist and poet, Wendell Berry, and it’s called The Peace of Wild Things.

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives might be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I love that line…

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

Creation…nature…does that for me.

It both causes me to wonder in the One who is Creator, and it causes me to rest in his sustaining care.

It leads me to know His peace.

And that shouldn’t surprise us.

Think of Jesus -

He tells us: “Do not worry.”

Before commanding us: “Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.”

And think of Job –

“‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
 In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.”

And of the Psalmist –

               “All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time.”

It’s true.

It really is.

Creation speaks to us.

As the Psalmist says,

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

Did you hear those words?

Creation declares.

It proclaims.

It pours forth speech.

As followers of Jesus let us treasure and hold tightly and dearly God’s written Word – His Word that is living and active; sweeter than honey; and more necessary than bread.

But let us open our eyes and ears to all that God wants to tell us and remind us of and reveal to us through creation – because the written Word that we cherish commands us to do precisely that.

So maybe this weekend, go out into your garden, or to a park, or some woods, or go out into the countryside. Stop and notice. Watch. Observe. Look up. Look down. Touch. Smell. Listen.

Get out into the peace of wild things and allow them to speak to you of your Heavenly Father.