Wednesday, May 17, 2017

                Throughout the winter I would occasionally listen to a cable radio station which blends real nature sounds with music.  Babbling brooks. Bird songs. Thunder storms. The sound of gentle rains. Croaking frogs, whale songs, loons, even the sounds from jungles. It is quite soothing and meditative on a cold winter’s day.

                As I was listening this past Sunday, I saw that it was a very nice day and I chose to go outside and enjoy a cup of coffee in the sun and warmth instead of being stuck inside and listening to the canned music and nature sounds.

                As I sat there my small corner of the world came alive. I watched as bright yellow gold finches darted and flitted among the bushes and trees.  A pair of red cardinals joined their dance. Our song sparrows warbled joyfully. Red-breasted robins hunted for grubs and worms. Mourning doves, grackles, squirrels, chick-a-dees - all made our backyard full of life. Maybe, there is something to be said for the fact that our back yard is not much more than a meadow these days.

                The experience has caused me to reflect how much good abundance we miss if and when we don’t take a look at the world around us. I am not just talking about nature but including people and circumstances that are a part of our everyday lives.

It is easy to rag on social media but there is a lot of truth to the observation that more and more people can’t their eyes off their tech devices. They only know the world by what they see or hear on their log-ins. Their eyes are glued to their phones and they fail to see what or who is around them.

Never before have we known so much and understood so little. Never before have we been able to observe the whole world and yet see so little beyond the four corners of our screen-lit rooms and tiny mobile devices. Never before have we had so much choice and yet choose so little. Never before have we had so many “friends” but know so little about them other than superficial facts. Never before have we shared so much about ourselves and trust so few.  Never before have we so much news that horrifies us and felt so powerless. Never before have we access to so much knowledge and so little capacity to sort out truth from fiction.

My argument is that the real world is teeming with vitality, abundance, joy, peace, hope, love, justice if we are prepared to go looking for it. Social media is great but it is a tool, not an existence. It should not be our only environment in which we live.

There are some wonderful, mysterious, unexpected, colourful, wild, surprising, dazzling sights and experiences that grace us. There are people who are different than us and what a joy that is when you get to know them personally.  There are things to do, places to be, sights to see, that are bigger and brighter and more spectacular than a picture or video.

Many, many years ago on a trip to the Holy Land I can remember how some of my fellow tour members seemed to be always seeing their surroundings through their camera lenses. They took hundreds of pictures and this was before digital cameras. They were always having to find somewhere to buy more film. Then more and more pictures. Their cameras were always in front of their faces. They probably didn’t really see where they had been until they got home and developed their photos and slides. I took pictures, too, of course, but what I enjoyed the most was to see the whole picture live and let it in soak in just where I was and what I was doing.  I didn’t want to experience that trip only through a little view-finder.

The Psalmist helps to understand the importance of taking in the real world and the fresh, healing revelations this brings:

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation;

you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

By your strength you established the mountains;

you are girded with might.

You silence the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the tumult of the peoples.

Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs;

you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide the people with grain,

for so you have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with richness.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy.  (Psalm 65:5 -13)

Dale