Appreciating Nature

I love a good summer thunderstorm except when they get scary violent.  As I drove home last night the sky darkened and it looked like Judgment Day.  My hope was to get home before the rain began.  I barely made it.  Just as I got into my home the rain began.  It was quite a deluge and soon the water flowing down my street was a fast moving torrent several inches deep.  I opened all the blinds in my house and both the front and back doors so I could watch the downpour.  I stood on my front porch for a while but the wind was blowing the rain on me and I retreated back into the house.  In my backyard my St. Francis and Buddha statues received a good bath.  I am not the kind of guy who would take six months off work to hike the Appalachian Trail but I love nature.  Some of my most peaceful moments have involved rain and the outdoors.  Some people refer to nature, especially the wilderness, as God’s Cathedral.  I must admit that I find a walk in the woods far superior to sitting in a church if I want to experience a sense of oneness with God and the universe.  Those of us who live in cities, especially large ones, can become isolated from the natural world.  We spend too much time in offices, stores, Malls, and high rise buildings.  As the band Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young sang on Joni Mitchell's anthem to the famous Woodstock music festival, “we’ve got to get back to the garden”.  Try to find some time today to be once with nature.  Find some green space among the concrete and bricks.  If you have the opportunity, listen to the rain.