The Door to Happiness and Peace

Crown Beard on the Prairie

I love the color yellow.  It’s always been my favorite color, but for years I denied it.  I’m not sure why, but I suspect it’s because a lot of people do not like yellow. So I gave in to peer pressure and said my favorite color was blue.  Blue is the opposite of yellow on the color palette so I secretly took pleasure in pretending that blue was my favorite. But always, when I had a chance to choose between two things, one of them being yellow, I always chose it.  For me, yellow is the door to happiness and peace.

I have many yellow things around me.  My front door is a beautiful golden yellow that reminds me of the sunrise.  I have yellow pillows and accents throughout my house. I have a yellow camera!  Whenever I am trying to decide on what to plant in my flower gardens, it always turns out there will be yellow. 

Gray Headed Cone

There are so many yellow things in nature, and I seek them out on local prairies.  The glorious gold finch and singing meadowlark. Gray headed cone flowers swaying in the wind.  Tall compass plants that amaze me by pointing their faces to the north. Late summer is my favorite time to walk the prairies because they are filled with blankets of yellow.

Walking a prairie full of yellow flowers of all sizes and heights, is a pleasure I can’t recommend enough.  If you need to refresh yourself and get clear of the everyday hubbub, you need to get outside and observe nature.  Most of the yellow is gone from the prairies at this time of year.  So I try to capture with my camera moments in nature that give me peace.  Then, when I am not able to get out, I can look through the photographs of the things that gave me great happiness.  It’s medicinal.  And for me, yellow is the best medicine and cure all for everything that ails me.

Cinquefoil

So there is my confession, I love the color yellow.  I will not deny it anymore.  It is said that the color yellow represents clarity of thought, wisdom, orderliness and energy.  It really does give me energy.  But yellow also has a calming effect.  I’ve always said, “There is a reason yellow rhymes with mellow.”

My wish for you is that you will find your “mellow” color and that you will spend some time searching for it in natural surroundings.  Whatever your favorite color is, enjoy and savor it, let it bring you happiness and peace.  But until you have a chance to get out there, please feel free to use some of my photographs here to help you find that extra bit of “stillness and tranquility” you need today.  And try to accept my favorite color, and put a little yellow in your life!

Butter Weed

BLESSINGS OF NATURE

This time of year makes us think about what we are thankful for.  I have many blessings to be thankful for; my faith in a God who blesses me every day, my wonderful family and friends, and my love of nature.

I am so blessed to be able to sit and just take in my natural surroundings: the almost secret life of a twisty vine, grasses swishing in the wind, water flowing along under a bright blue sky. I might look like I am loafing at times, but I am very busy. I’ve spent my life studying nature and still do not know enough, except how much I love studying it.  There are so many mysteries in nature to unfold. There are so many intricate dynamics.  There are so many blessings of nature to be thankful for.

On a recent hike, I took this photo of a tiny curly vine.  How many people would walk right by and overlook this?  I found it fascinating and unique.  It reminds me of all the twists and turns in our lives, circles and spins. Nature has to deal with all the twists and turns also; outside forces that can destroy, and inside factors from just the natural life cycle of a plant. But I am so grateful I got to observe its short life because I was there.

I love to walk through prairies and forests and observe native grasses silently swaying in the wind.  Sometimes I sit for hours in a remote place just to absorb the beauty and wonder. There is nothing more rewarding than watching the feathery seeds of little blue stem sparkling in the sun.  I am thankful that I got observe this beauty because I was there.

Water is also very important to my well-being.  I love hiking along a beautiful stream or floating along in my kayak.  The sounds of nature are all around you, but the gurgling, swishing, bubbling water sounds can put my soul to rest.  I try to capture these moments with my camera, but cannot really do it justice.  Still, I am thankful I got to take the shot because I was there.

We all have so much to be thankful for, yet it seems we only really think about it at this time of year.  My challenge to myself this next year is to think of something to be thankful for every day, and to find a way to express that gratefulness both to my creator and to those around me who make my life so good.

A DROP OF DEW

"What Youth deemed crystal, Age finds out was dew."  

                                                           -Robert Browning

There are many things in the world that can make you feel small: a big train barreling toward you, the Grand Canyon, a photograph of the universe.  Today while I was out photographing flowers, it was a drop of dew.  A single drop of dew made me feel small.

Through the camera lens, the drop of dew looked isolated and cool.  I began to think about my place in the world and how important, or unimportant, I am.  What have I contributed to the world?  What have been my great accomplishments?  What difference have I made?

It’s easy to feel down when you have been sick, and maybe this is why I began questioning myself today.  After all, the cancer that I am trying to expel from my body right now with chemo therapy started as a minute single cell.  Having a disease like cancer can make you feel very small and alone. 

When I think of a drop of dew, and how small it is compared to all the water in the world, it is easy to equate that to how small each of us is compared to the universe.  But everything in the world has a size and a place.  Everything is connected.  Everything has a purpose. 

Instead if considering the smallness of the drop of dew, 

I began to think about how one drop of water can fall from that leaf into a puddle on the ground.  Then that puddle can flow into a creek, the creek into a river, and the river into the sea.  The sea is full of tiny drops of water, each one necessary to the whole.  We are all necessary. 

With my camera, I try to capture the beauty of all of nature and share it with others.  And that is enough for me to be a necessary part of this planet.  I hope I never stop trying to present the beauty I see all around me and that I am forever thankful for a God that created each drop of dew that sat on a leaf, fell into a puddle, and eventually flowed into the sea. 

MUSIC OF THE RIVER

After retiring two years ago, I have been able to enjoy many new and some long-awaited pursuits.  I love photography, hiking, exploring, traveling and of course, writing.  But one of my biggest joys is floating on local rivers in my kayak.  A friend introduced me to kayaking and we shared some remarkable time on a clear quiet lake.  It was like cocaine to my spirit.  It awakened something inside me that is hard to explain.  Floating on the water, quietly paddling along, listening to the harmony of nature has renewed my life and rejuvenated my well being.  It struck a chord in my heart reminding me of how music, any kind, can bring quality to my life.

Since that time, another friend has offered numerous opportunities to go paddling.  I get a high on every trip and feel compelled to write about it here.  I sincerely hope that by explaining how the music of the river has affected me, you too, will be inspired to pursue a part of our natural world that fulfills your wandering soul.

The music I hear on the river can be legato (smooth) or it can be forte (played loudly.)  The water is sometimes cool and serene, and other times it is hot and raucous. Floating along allowing the current to drift you over a multicolored pebbled bottom can relax you into a nature induced coma.  I always hear a medley of bird calls, frogs, and all things that buzz along the river.  I am amazed by the soft timbre of a whooshing heron’s wings. I love to greet a curious dragonfly that hovers with wings beating to its own musical rhythm. The light “plop” of a turtle into the water off a nearby log relaxes the tempo of my blood pressure.

Some rivers have fast waters with numerous obstacles waiting to claim your kayak. Paddling over boulders and through narrow rushes of water wakes up the human motivation to feel alive.  I am A Capella, alone in my quest to conquer the river.  In these places, in between quick decisions, the composition can be heard in the bubbling and gurgling waters.  Because I am a novice kayaker, there are times I can hear some riffles well before reaching them, and the anticipation feels like a loud drum with tympanums is inside my chest.   

The music of the river, with nature as the conductor, is a song cycle with a single theme – inspiration.   Whether you can get into a canoe or kayak on the river, or just spend some time near a lake or river, you are sure to hear music in the water if you listen.  Mother Nature provides encore after encore through each season, revitalizing our spirits with her songs. I wish you the peace of music in nature wherever your wanderlust takes you.

Pokémon: A NATURAL Phenomenon?

This is a nature blog, however, just this once I ask for indulgence.  I’ll get to why this pertains to nature in a bit.  If you own a smart phone, you probably already know about a new phenomenon called Pokémon Go.  If you do not own one of these devices, or you do not “play” online games on your phone, or you live in a cave, you probably are as confused as I have been this last week.  

With my family on vacation in the Mid-West, I was surrounded by people walking and talking while holding their cell phones out in front of themselves.  Now, this is not totally unusual, that is a sight you can see every day, anywhere.  But you may have noticed MORE people doing this lately. 

This is because of the new game, Pokémon Go.  Everywhere you go, they are there, 21 million walking cell-zombies paying attention only to what is on their small screens.  What are they doing?  Chasing, finding and capturing Pokémon characters placed in real-world locations using GPS. 

They even talk a different language.  “Hey I evolved my Rattata into a Raticate, but I keep seeing a zillion Rattatas.  Oh, I see, I need to evolve them for XP!”  Or this, “I did a twelve candy Pidgey evolution and got 1000 XP!”

What does it mean?  If you spend a little time with a Pokémon user, you will learn some of the lingo. But, I am not writing this to help people learn about Pokémon, I really do have a point about how it can become a natural phenomenon.

To some of these people, this is a real competition, and they are risking their lives in search of these finds.  Police departments and other authorities across the country, including the National Parks Association, are issuing warnings because public safety is at risk at times.  A number of people have been injured while playing the game, due to failure to pay attention to their surroundings. Yesterday at the St. Louis Zoo, people were asked (in fun) to stop playing Pokémon before boarding the train!

How does all this pertain to nature?  Now I will get to that.  What I see is opportunities.  Opportunities for people who generally stayed inside hooked on electronic devices to get out and interact with natural surroundings. Pokémon are found everywhere, including parks and outdoor recreational areas.  I see opportunities for fitness.  Pokémon requires walking, literally, to “hatch” the eggs of the creature they seek.  And finally, I see opportunities for the public to learn more about issues related real plants and animals. 

Studies are already being done to see if similar games can be built around the Pokémon concept to get people out there in search of real species. Imagine a similar game that helps people learn about preserving our pollinators.  Can you see a game where people learn to identify bird species?  And finally, imagine a game that sends people in search of endangered species where they learn about the habitats they require.

Engaging the public in learning more about issues related to real plants and animals and biodiversity really appeals to us naturalists.  So before you condemn those 21 million cell-zombies for getting in your way and clogging up our natural areas, re-think it.  What if 21 million people began caring for our world?  Oh what a force that would be!  It’s a start, and I will end this blog on that hopeful note.  I feel a need for a walk.  I have to hatch an egg.

EXPERIENCE LIFE ON A PRAIRIE

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a bio blitz on Linden Prairie in Missouri.  A prairie bio blitz is a coming together of like-minded people with the intent to learn more about a natural area.  Learning more about prairies gives us reasons to help conserve and preserve them.

Linden Prairie is owned by Missouri Prairie Foundation and this year is the 50^th anniversary of MPF’s presence in Missouri.   This prairie and others in Missouri are the last of their kind.  Prairies once covered 15 million acres in Missouri.  Today, there are less than 90 thousand acres of prairie left, most of it in small parcels.

So what happens when native prairies disappear?  One very important issue is that pollinators also disappear.  For us, that means crops may not be pollinated, and that means less food.  For this reason alone, we need to protect lands like this. 

But to me it is so much more.  Walking the prairie at day is like nothing else you can do.  The grasses, wildflowers, and wildlife seem to crowd around you.  Walking the prairie at night you have opportunities to see and hear wildlife that only can be found at night.  These experiences speak of times long ago when bison roamed without fences, and they remind us of our country’s first people who walked on this same land. 

There is a heartiness on the prairie.  Maybe it is because we can imagine how difficult life must have been back then, for native species and for mankind who dared to attempt to live there. 

WILDERNESS AND SOLITUDE

  

Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization. –Aldo Leopold

I spent some time in a workshop this week, the Leopold Education Project.  As a naturalist, it would be difficult not to love Leopold, and I have since the first time I read A Sand County Almanac.  But I came away with a different understanding in this workshop.  In being reminded of my love for wilderness, which I relate to solitude, I saw a side of Leopold I had not considered before.  His efforts to encompass all of nature into one community, and treat all natural things with the same respect, are reminders of how and why we seek wilderness and solitude.

When Leopold speaks of wilderness, he agrees it is an “adversary to be conquered.” Pioneers traveled dangerously across our adversary continent seeking favorable grounds to set up a home.  Outdoor enthusiasts seek to conquer wilderness by traveling through it and living to tell about it.  Mankind today seeks to conquer outer space as our next frontier.  We have conquered our wilderness areas, trampling on the raw materials we found in order to set up cities and communities. We have traversed the land single handedly using up all resources, and lived to tell about it.  And we have populated the wilderness of space with our satellites and space ships. But in Leopold’s words, “that same raw stuff is something to be loved and cherished, because it gives definition and meaning to life.”

That is what I found in this recent study of Leopold; definition and meaning to life. I always agreed that ethical use of land could only come from love and admiration for land.  In this study, I heard Leopold’s definition of land ethics as it relates to philosophical values, and I discovered that this is why I seek wilderness and solitude.  It had not occurred to me before to define why I loved to seek out and protect wild places, but I think this yearning is in all of us.  There is a certain peace found in the study of nature and therefore the study of our origins as Leopold puts it.

“We can be ethical only in relation to something we can see, feel, understand, love, or otherwise have faith in.”  Aldo Leopold

Reading again some of Leopold’s wonderful descriptions of wilderness moments he experienced, reminded me of my own moments of wildness. Here is one of my favorite quotes of his:  “A dawn wind stirs on the great marsh.  With almost imperceptible slowness it rolls a bank of fog across the wide morass.  Like the white ghost of a glacier the mists advance, riding over phalanxes of tamarack, sliding across bog-meadows heavy with dew.  A single silence hangs from horizon to horizon.”   His writing is inspirational to me because I have experienced sitting in a place just like this, feeling, tasting, and breathing in the mists, and being thankful for the silence of the moment. 

But my recent revelation is in the why.  Why have I sought out wild places and solitude?  I discovered that it is, and has always been for me, giving meaning to my life.  When I sit quietly alone among the tall grass of a prairie and use my senses to listen, smell and see the sights all around me, I live.  When I walk a forest trail, absorbing the freedom to wander at my own pace, I live.  When I sit on a beach and ponder where the waves go when they hit the shore, I live.

Wilderness and solitude are to me a way to live life to its fullest.  Only by living among the wild-ness of nature can I survive living in the modern world.  Everything I learn from studying natural communities, gives me methods to deal with human influences on my world.  Most importantly, taking time to find wilderness and solitude renews my spirit, increases my faith, and energizes my psyche.

I come away from my nature encounters full and satisfied.  I have a deeper understanding of why I should play a role in preserving each piece of the natural communities God has given us.  Leopold says finding the cultural value of wilderness boils down to a question of intellectual humility, “It is only the scholar who understands why the raw wilderness gives definition and meaning to the human enterprise.”

I know I will never be called a scholar.  But I also know that, regardless, I will continue to seek out wilderness and solitude as a way to keep increasing my love of nature.  From this love of nature will come enough knowledge to at least be counted among the naturalists of this world.

ARE YOU READY FOR A WALK?

I love the word “saunter.”  Saunter.  It rolls out of the mouth slow and mellow.  In his essay, Walking, Henry David Thoreau suggested there is an art to taking a walk; that is learning to saunter.  To saunter may feel to some to indicate the activity of a vagabond – a homeless person roaming from place to place. Thoreau suggested that to saunter, or “go forth on the shortest walk” should be an adventure and a crusade.  In his eyes, those who sit in their houses all the time are the vagrants.

 “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station [in] which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”  George Washington Carver

Many people have never thought much about tuning in to nature, but learning to do this is not difficult.  Our lives are so busy with obligations and fast - paced social networking activities, it is easy to sit inside and ignore nature.  Forcing yourself to take time for a walk outside is how you tune into nature. 

In spring and summer the world is full of green things.  The color green is said to be gentle on the eyes.  Is it a coincidence that God made so much green at a time of year that encompasses the newness of the earth?  In fall and winter, the colors are much different.  Fall yellows, oranges and reds are inspiring and comforting.  Winter whites and blues may seem drab, but these colors in nature evoke calmness.

You don’t have to find a solitary location or official hiking trail to enjoy the peace of nature.  It can be found in your backyard, on a street corner, or in a local park.  The trick, as Thoreau puts it, is to free ourselves from all worldly engagements.  He points out that legs are not made to sit upon, but to walk upon.

When I walk or hike, I am on a crusade; a crusade to find the best part of nature, the ultimate spot in the wild, and peace.  When I find it, I suck it into my heart so I will never forget it. 

Walking for me is direct contact with God, and this contact leads me to answers and solutions in my life. I agree with Anne Frank when she said, “The best remedy for those who are afraid or unhappy is to go outside.  Somewhere where they can be quiet and alone with the heavens, nature and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy amidst the simple beauty of nature.”

According to Thoreau, to become a walker requires a “direct dispensation from heaven,” and he challenges those he feels are not fit to take a walk.  I don’t know if he was serious when he said this, “If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again – if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man – then you are ready for a walk.”  It  sounds like he was challenging us, saying not everyone could become a walker.

So, are you ready to go for a walk?  I hope so. Get out there and enjoy your natural surroundings, find peace, and defy Mr. Henry David Thoreau!

A MILLION YEARS OF MILKWEED

I’ve planted my share of milkweed over the years, but not like you would think.  As an outdoor-loving child that liked to explore and touch and investigate, the milkweed plant was one of my favorites.  I don’t remember the first time I actually knew the name of the tall plant with milk in its veins and those wonderful pods that would explode with white silky threads.  My small hands routinely rubbed that white sticky substance between my fingers (and yes, I am sure I tasted it!), and pulled open those green pods excited to touch what was inside. 

The seeds with wings were intriguing to me, but I am not sure I was aware that when I blew them into the wind, I was actually “planting” them.  How sad today, that it is difficult for a child explorer like me to even find a milkweed plant, much less experience the fun of blowing the seeds into the wind.  How very sad too that the loss of this plant could mean the loss of another of nature’s marvels, the monarch butterfly. 

The milkweed plant is the only plant where monarchs lay eggs.  Monarch caterpillars feed on the toxic leaves and become “toxic” themselves to protect from predators.  This same toxin also prevents monarch butterflies from most predators.  Nature has a way of protecting them, but our own thoughtlessness, unless we make some changes, can destroy them.

The wings of a monarch remind me of a map.  Each black line describes a road that leads to the trip of a lifetime!  Most of us will never travel 3000 miles from home, but some monarchs do.  Maybe that was nature’s intention in the design of the wings; to show us a road map that reminds us of how this amazing insect flies thousands of miles in migration from Canada and the United States to Mexico.  How can we not want to protect something that is so delicate yet strong enough to survive this trip?

Homero Aridjis, a Mexican poet and environmentalist describes his home town during the migration:

“In Contepec that morning, thousands of monarch butterflies were crossing the village.The air, like a river, bore currents of butterflies through the streets, above the houses, between the trees and people as they made their way south.”

His description is truly a picture of what it must be like to experience this.  Two decades ago, over a billion monarchs could be found in the forests of Mexico in winter.  Today those only number about 33 million.  All of us need to be alarmed at the 90% loss of such a wonderful and important insect.

It doesn’t take much to observe that the loss of habitat in Mexico, and loss of the host plant for monarch caterpillars in our country is the cause of the decline.  Our country’s role is in the destruction of milkweed for farming interests.  There may not be a place for milkweed where crops are grown, but there are many places where it can be planted to help save the monarchs; along roadways, prairies, and backyards. All of us can be a part of bringing back the milkweed plant.

So why should we care?  A teacher in Minnesota asked her ninth grade class this question when studying the decline of monarchs.  Here is one answer from a student that says it all.

“Monarchs show me what it is like to be prosperous and having abundance, something that I want personally.  When everything is good, there are plenty of milkweeds, and plenty of habitat in Mexico.  When I witness things going bad, with the logging of their habitat in Mexico, and loss of habitat in our country, then I move from a sense of prosperity to one of loss.  Like the poet John Dunn said – No man is an island. Every man’s death diminishes me -   And every factor that threatens the monarch, affects me and diminishes me.”

I don’t want my children and grandchildren to experience a diminished life from the loss of a species or any part of nature in their lifetimes.  I don’t want anyone to experience that.  Each of us should feel the responsibility of preserving something that has been on this earth for millions of years. No one wants milkweed and monarch destruction to occur on “our watch.”  One simple solution is to make an effort to restore the critical milkweed plant.  If you don’t have a backyard to plant it in, find a place where you can have permission to grow it.  Promote it in your own area through highway departments and public places.

Then, don’t forget to take some time to enjoy the milkweed you planted.  Open up and explore one of those ripened green pods and feel the silky white membranes with a brown seed attached that float in the wind when you release them.  Be satisfied that you dispatched some milkweed seeds on their way to grow into a plant that will save the monarch butterfly.

TO DO LIST:

·       Study and research the type of milkweed that should be planted in your own area.
·       Post your thoughts on this blog, and other social media to share with others what you are doing to help monarchs. 
·       Find websites with more information like Monarch Watch, and this one in Missouri.  http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/wildlife-your-property/backyard-wildlife/backyard-habitat-monarch-butterflies
·       For fun!  Solve this puzzle and be the first to reply in this blog if you find the answer!

                Where on earth can you find “white” monarchs?

A NATURALIST'S EYE

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

― Albert Einstein

Anyone that has routinely studied our natural surroundings by “getting out there,” has a Naturalist’s Eye.  Naturalists love to spend time observing and recording natural events; an endangered flower on the prairie, an eagle “watching us” in a park, and a flock of thousands of snow geese landing on a lake.  Yes, we’ve done all that and much more as Missouri Master Naturalists. 

While Master Naturalists have available considerable training opportunities from many experts, it is with our eyes that we become Naturalists.  Our eyes lead us out to prairies, woods and lakes filling our minds with mysterious experiences that become education.    Our eyes are open to conservation needs, and that spurs our hands to actively pursue projects to protect nature. Our eyes are the windows through which our hearts receive love and devotion to nature, so we can share it each in our own particular way.

The person who said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” regarding art must have had a Naturalist’s eye.  Many famous painters worked outdoors to capture natural forms.  John James Audubon could not have created his famous watercolors of birds without spending so much time observing them in their natural habitats.  Claude Monet’s outdoor paintings hang in many famous museums worldwide.  He attributed his eye for nature to be his most important accomplishment when he said of himself; “My only merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects.” Monet was known for dragging his contemporaries, Renior, Sisley and Brazille, also famous artists, on his outdoor excursions. Such famous artists, all with the eye of a naturalist, brought nature to others.  Who would challenge that these famous artists were not “naturalists?” 

Who is better to become an advocate for conservation of natural resources than those who love and study nature than a Master Naturalist?  Each of us has particular interests and talents, along with the drive to preserve and protect our natural surroundings.  Each of us finds a way to share our knowledge by unobtrusive measures to those whose minds are open to learning along with us.   Each of us has our eyes open waiting for the beauty of nature to inspire us.  After all, anyone who does not “stand in rapt awe” at the sight of a tiny bug, a delicate flower, or a red sunset, must be those who truly have their eyes closed. 

Master Naturalist chapters are available in most states.  Check in your own area to see if you can find a local chapter.  It is a great way to add your voice to conservation and preservation of your natural surroundings.

SUMMER SOLSTICE AT DIAMOND GROVE PRAIRIE

Diamond Grove Prairie

 “I was raised on country sunshine, green grass beneath my feet.  

Running through fields of daisies, wading through the creek.”

--Country Sunshine by Dottie West 

I was not raised in the country, I grew up in suburban St. Louis.  But that did not stop me from seeking out any tiny patch of green grass, fields of flowers, or a creek to wade in when I was young.  Summer was an endless time of staying outdoors hours at a time, exploring natural places, and searching for anything wild; turtles, snakes, bugs, and lots of dirt. Not yet coming into my “naturalist mentality” yet, I brought home handfuls of wildflowers to grace our home. So it was fitting that I spent the summer solstice at a prairie.  

black eyed susan

golden winged skimmer

Diamond Grove dressed itself in my favorite color, yellow, for the first day of summer.  Purple headed sneeze-weed,  crownbeard, black eyed susans, and coreopsis created a yellow carpet wonderland for butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. 

sensitive brier

Contrasting colors came from bright red-orange indian paint brush, blue spider-wort, and pink sensitive brier. Hard to find milkwort, wild petunia, and deptford pinks shyly hid in the under story of the tall grasses.  It was a morning of prize after prize!

wild petunia

The longest day of the year is a great time to visit a prairie.  You can avoid the hot mid-day heat, and still have a lot of daylight in the cooler morning and evening.  Don't worry if you missed the opportunity today, tomorrow is the second longest day of the year!  

false dragonhead and purple headed sneezeweed

natural thoughts: NATURAL ORDER

natural thoughts: NATURAL ORDER: It took a long time for me to write this next blog. I had to take a hiatus’ from blogging because of so much destruction and sadnes...

NATURAL ORDER

     It took a long time for me to write this next blog.  I had to take a hiatus’ from blogging because of so much destruction and sadness after the Joplin tornado, and then, the loss of my husband of forty years.  But writing and blogging are important to healing for me, so I hope you will take some time to read this blog about the natural order of natural phenomenon.  Please comment if you like.

     Since I want to keep this blog about natural things, it seems right to discuss the Joplin tornado.  Tornados are a natural phenomenon, one we could do without, but part of nature like the seasons.  As a naturalist, I can fully accept the natural order of things.  I always find a balance; snakes eat rodents, birds eat snakes, and mammals eat birds.  There is good and bad in nature, life and death.  We have to take the good with the bad because that is how nature works.

     After the tornado, like a lot of people I had a hard time driving through the devastated area.  The only pictures I took of tornado damage were of this one tree.  It appears to be a hundred year old Osage Orange.   We had a large tree just like it in our backyard in Carthage.  My family loved that tree, not for the hard green balls it dropped on our cars, but because it seemed to radiate strength.  The smooth worn and twisted bark seemed to say, “I have survived many seasons.”  

     Trees like this became a bright spot for me, and probably others.  Regardless of the damage it suffered, the tree followed its God-given natural directive, and pushed out new leaves as it did every spring.  As people went about the business of cleaning up and putting lives back together, many paused to notice trees like this. They became symbols of renewal for the people of Joplin.

     As a Christian, I cannot help but believe that all things in nature were created by God.  I am constantly reminded of His greatness as I observe the natural order of things.  I believe God created the natural order of things at the same time He created our universe, and expects nature to run a random course.  Any lesson we can learn from nature is a good one.

     Charles Darwin, in his Origin of Species, said that nature is not complete and perfect, but constantly evolving.  I agree with his theory that chance determines the order of nature.  The tornado could have hit anywhere or not at all.  It wasn’t God’s punishment, it wasn’t Mother Nature showing her displeasure, and it was not a sign of anything.  It was pure chance.  Many random natural factors had to come together for it to occur and to occur at such a magnitude.

     So does that mean mankind is off the hook?  That we are not causing some of the natural phenomenon we’ve seen in the last decade? That we don’t need to worry about protecting nature? Of course not. 

     In Darwin’s theory of chance, mankind can intervene in chance relationships, and we often do.  Sometimes it’s in a negative way, and sometimes it’s positive.  Survival of the fittest seems to have been proven true over time.  But I don’t really care about theories.  I care about enjoying and protecting our natural surroundings.

     This quote has been attributed to Sir Karl Popper, a twentieth century philosopher, and it speaks to the thought that God is in control, but not necessarily intervening in every chance encounter in nature.

“If God had wanted to put everything into the universe from the beginning, He would have created a universe without change, without organisms and evolution, and without man and man's experience of change. But he seems to have thought that a live universe with events unexpected even by Himself would be more interesting than a dead one.”

     This says to me that we do have choices in how the order of things evolve.  We can choose to study and protect natural things or not.  We can try to push nature out of our lives with technology, or use every day we have to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. We can, as the fittest, use up all our natural resources, or in that same regard, we can choose to create a shallower footprint on our world.

     Sir Popper also described the creativity of nature as the greatest riddle of complexity.  I certainly am glad that God created a universe that is not boring.  And I am also glad to have such a wonderful riddle to solve as I spend every day listening, watching and enjoying natural things.