Hi folks I hope you are doing ok, this week we will be at the Crescent Club in the upstairs bar at 7.30, we hope you can join us!
I have found our series on the bible interesting and challenging in equal measure, one of the things that has struck me has been this whole area of wisdom.
It seems to me that most of life is about trying, and sometimes failing, to make wise decisions! In some ways this makes life worth living and very interesting!! Each decision we make has consequences, some bigger than others. And of course once we have made a decision, we can’t go back on it, it is done!
And we know that the decisions we make are fleeting, it’s not long before we have other decisions to make. And then of course we eventually pass from this mortal coil where our bodies become dust and who really knows what happens to our ‘being’, I hope it’s heaven bound, but I have no idea what that is or how that works (now my brain hurts)!
So as our body decays we become part of earth. Walt Whitman said, while contemplating what makes life worth living:
“Nature remains… the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.”
In the midst of the complexities and the decisions of this life, it may mean very little, and yet the bible tells us that we are unique, loved and special… Yet we are here today and gone tomorrow.
Many of us would love to add years to our lives I’m sure, but we aren’t in control, even though we think we are, and with that backdrop there are things that remain… mountains, hills, grass and one of my favourites – trees!
Things like trees have no decisions to make, they ‘are’, they just ‘be’ and they grow and interact with the seasons. I like to think that they watch us, roll their eyes, laugh and cry at all that we weird humans do.
I love that trees show us their nakedness in winter, this is where we see how they have grown, how they have been affected by their environment and then we watch them spring forth with life and dress themselves and they are forever inviting other species to find shelter within them. And of course they have a system of roots we do not see that reach into the ground to feed them.
And so I wonder what it would look like if we humans looked with wisdom at trees and learnt what they have to say to us… As I think about this it feels like The Divine presence set the scene for us not just in trees but in nature itself and said there you go… watch it flourish, see the ebb and flow, witness death and life and a whole host of other things.
These are just some meanderings that have been playing on my mind, so some questions.
What is the most strange decision you have had to make?
How do you make decisions?
If you were an ancient tree, what historical event do you wish you had witnessed?
In what way could nature be wisdom?
What is your favourite tree and why?
How does it feel knowing that world will continue without you?
What does nature teach us about The Divine?
Peace Rob
PS – I love Kawase Hasui work, he brings out the starkness and beauty of the trees that he paints.
[https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/…/works/DO1.1960/)
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.