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I have always felt a strong connection to nature. Growing up in Florida, at a time when it was safe for kids to be outside, I had free roam of the neighborhood. Almost year-round, after school, in the summer and on weekends, our mother would tell my older brother and me, "You are not going to stay inside and watch TV. Go outside and play."
It wasn't hard to find something to do. I had friends to ride my bike with or I could ride by myself. Our favorite place to play was the cemetery. It wasn't far away, had paved roads with few cars, and a small lake. Sometimes we would take a jar and catch guppies, take them home and put them in an aquarium. Another time I took a tadpole home and my dad gave me a small piece of wood to float on the top of the aquarium water so the tadpole could get out of the water when it had grown legs. Then my dad built a small screen cage for the tadpole-now-frog and I would feed it grass.
When I was older, my parents introduced my brother and me to camping in a 13-foot travel trailer. We would spend the night in it when we traveled to Cleveland to visit relatives or take a vacation in the Florida Keys. I didn't care much for that small travel trailer, especially since I had to share the upper bunk with my brother.
In college, I took my first backpacking trip and that has remained my favorite type of camping. It is such a freeing experience to find a place to camp and realize that you have arrived on your own power. When you are backpacking you are very dependent on nature: finding a spring or fast-moving stream for water, a patch of snow to chill your drinks, a sunny spot to warm the tent in the morning, a waterfall for a quick shower, a lake to catch fish for dinner.
On one of those backpacking trips in the Rockies, we made it to the top of a summit above treeline. I sat down to rest on a large flat rock and looked all around me. I had a 360-degree view of the jagged mountains, some still with snow on top. As I took in all that I was seeing, I began to think how could anyone not believe in God if they saw this incredible beauty. It was a spiritual and pivotal moment for me and one that has shaped my love for and concern about God's creation for my entire life. Now when I am in nature, I feel filled up with joy and gratitude for all that God has made - human and non-human, living and non-living, water, clouds, rainbows, stars, planets, trees, plants, mushrooms, mosses, rocks, fossils, minerals, crystals...
Creator God,
You have given us an awe-inspiring planet to live on with everything that we need. We confess that we have taken more than we need and have desecrated so many places that you call good. Give us vision to see where we have gone astray, humility to accept our responsibility, and courage to treat with respect this precious gift you have made our common home.
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