O Eternal, our Lord, Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth;
Your magnificent glory shines far above the skies.
From the mouths and souls of infants and toddlers, the most innocent,
You have decreed power to stop Your adversaries and quash those who seek revenge.
When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation
– on the moon, stars, and all You have made,
I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals
– sons and daughters of men and women, specks of dust floating about the cosmos.
But You placed us just beneath God and honored us like royalty,
crowning us with glory and honor.
You ordained us to govern the works of Your hands,
to nurture the offspring of Your divine imagination.
You placed everything on earth beneath our feet:
All kinds of domesticated animals, even the wild animals in the fields and forests,
he birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
all the multitudes of living things that travel the currents of the oceans.
O Eternal, our Lord, Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth.
Psalm 8 the Voice
One of the ways I decompress is to putz around in my yard. Yes, I enjoy mowing the lawn and blowing the leaves, and weeding the flowerbeds. I have also come to value sitting in nature, listening to and watching the birds and rabbits and squirrels. Though not a hunter, I do enjoy fishing – more for the way I am forced to wait for the fish to bite than necessarily catching the fish. I anticipate much of my renewal time will be engaging in the things I’ve just shared.
I also realize that people see the natural world from different vantage points. For example, a real estate developer might look at a beautiful landscape and think, “Wow, we could make a road, build some housing, and dam this creek. We could create an incredible housing development with a lake. It would be worth a fortune.” A paper manufacturer sees a forested mountainside and thinks about how much lumber and paper can be made from those trees and how much return on investment can be realized for leasing that mountainside. Meanwhile, an angler would see a trout stream coming down the mountainside that he’d like to protect. An ecologist might see an endangered species of fish that needs to be preserved. A theologian, depending on his or her background, might see theological justifications for selling that land to the real estate developer or manufacturer, or for preserving it with the angler and ecologist.
Every tree, every meadow, every stream, every wave rolling in on the beach … each of us sees them with different vision. We bring our own different backgrounds, perspectives, needs, interests, desires, and problems to whatever we see.
Over the years, I have found my perspective has changed. I am less and less impressed by big, beautiful architecture, let alone the big box stores and office complexes and sprawling industrial parks, though I realize they have their place – sometimes. I struggle with creation and creatures being pushed into smaller and smaller space to accommodate human need for more and more, bigger and bigger, better and better (though I’m not sure it’s actually better).
I desire more and more to respect the space that is creation. To me, this kind of respecting of space is a part of how I am to be a good steward of creation, how to be in friendship with the creatures, flora, and fauna around me. We don’t care for people who don’t respect our personal boundaries. We feel they are always impeding, restricting, and limiting our ability to be, often to take advantage of us, to control us. We’re so used to being in control that when people expect legitimate respect from us, we think they are being hostile.
Sadly, we humans tend to have a similar relationship with our fellow creatures. I think this is one of our real struggles with the natural world, of which we are a part. We’re so used to being in control of things that when the natural world demands legitimate respect from us, we think it’s being hostile. This is part of our current life curriculum as human beings—to learn appropriate respect after centuries and centuries of domination.
It’s parallel to what people with privilege need to learn—whether it’s white privilege, male privilege, the privilege of the rich, or, dare I say, the privilege of being human. Privileged people are so used to acting in domineering ways that when you ask them to show proper respect, they feel they’re being deprived or persecuted. But this respect is something we need and it’s a matter of survival right now for us to learn it.
There is an option: Jesus reminds us to Love – people and creation. We can actually decide for generous friendship that results in reverence, respect, and enjoyment. For that to take place, I will have to give up control; I will have to stop taking advantage.
For me that happens best when I step out into creation, become quiet, look, listen, and allow myself to wonder again. As the psalmist did in Psalm 8, “When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation – on the moon, stars, and all You have made, I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals – sons and daughters of men and women – specks of dust floating about the cosmos.” Then I am able to more appropriately know my place in relationships with others and with God’s creation to “nurture the offspring of Your divine imagination.”
This summer, I encourage you to spend time in God’s creation, become quiet, look, listen, and allow yourself to wonder again. May you find your spirit renewed. May God’s creation inspire you to wonder again. May you receive a renewed look at how you treat the creation. May you receive a renewed understanding for your relationships with other humans. May you receive a renewed amazement and admiration of the Eternal, our Lord, Whose majestic name is heard throughout the earth.
Partnering with you,
DS John