Daily life can wear my soul down, making me tired. Thankfully, God's beautiful landscape is out there waiting to renew me. I've been going out to Julie and Quinn's quite a bit recently...watching the horses gallop over the pasture...the baby chicks scurry across the yard...the sun setting through the trees, spreading vibrant colors across the sky...plucking wily weeds from our straight rows of potatoes, onions, lettuces...
When I'm spending time outdoors, I'm in a world filled with beauty, far, far away from my everyday cares and worries.
Jesus also left the crowds behind and went to the wilderness to pray. For me, spending time in God's creation is a form of prayer and thanksgiving for all I have been given, but also a way of feeding my spiritual body. The pastor of the small congregation I attend here in Marion said something a couple of weeks ago that has stuck with me ever since--he said, "if you are tired of doing ministry [which I feel applies to teaching!], check and see whether you are being fed spiritually."
Am I being fed, filled to the brim, renewed for my ministry? How do my community--my church congregation--my personal devotions feed me? Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much of the "other" stuff that fills my life?
As this last week of school winds down, I'm eager to find more moments that I can snatch, leaving the crowds and cares of life behind.
I like to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,
through which God speaks to us every hour,
if we will only tune in.
-George Washington Carver
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