Nature and Nurture

The thing I miss the most now that I live in a flat is not having a garden.

I have been to a garden centre today and am currently sitting outside in a garden, and have realised afresh how much I miss having one of my own.

I love sitting out in the sunshine (on those rare occasions it makes an appearance), reading and relaxing. I love the peace and quiet. I enjoy the beautiful scents of different flowers, the bright colours and delicate shapes of different plants. I love the soft feeling of grass beneath my feet and the sound of the breeze rustling in the trees.

And I love the fresh air.

I love being outside and it always feels good for you, yet I never feel I spend enough time in nature, in the great outdoors.

And this seems to be a common feeling: we long to spend time outside and yet we never feel we spend enough time out of doors. We feel somehow disconnected from nature.

Rob Bell writes,

"We're disconnected from the earth. And we know it. Or at least we can feel it, even if we don't have words for it [...]

Many people live in air-conditioned houses and apartments. We alter our air with electric machines. We spend vast sums of money and energy to change our air. And we drive in air-conditioned cars - the 8 percent of us in the world who have cars - to air-conditioned schools and offices and stores with tile floors and fluorescent lights.

It's even possible to go days without spending any significant time outside. And it's still considered living. It's easy to go for weeks and maybe even years without ever actually plunging your hands onto soil. Into earth. Into dirt."

What is it about nature that draws us to itself?

I think it offers us a place of restoration and peace. Time slows down and we feel that we can breathe again and be ourselves again. In the clamouring busyness of life, it is good to stop and slow down. Nature gives us a feeling of freedom and space: out in the wild, we are no longer confined by office walls, or car doors or deadlines and time constraints.

Nature nurtures us.  It soothes our souls and refreshes our spirits.

It is a safe and spacious place where we can be restored:

"He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."

[Psalm 18:19 NIV]

The Garden of Eden - whether we see it as a literal garden or a literary garden - tells of humanity's relationship with nature. It is a place of space and freedom, but it is also safe and secure and we have everything we need.

"The spacious, free life is from God, it's also protected and safe."

[Psalm 37:39 MSG]

We are living "east of Eden" in a world that is less than perfect, where we don't always feel safe and secure. Nature - and gardens in particular - remind us that we were made for more than office blocks and artificial lighting and air-conditioning. We were made for more than the fast-paced world of business. Gardens remind us to pause and reflect and remember that we were made for a free and spacious life.

For the time being, I am making do with my own small herb "garden" in my flat - a constant reminder to get out into creation and connect with our Creator.

Connected

Last night I found myself watching 'About A Boy' on TV. 

 

I haven't seen it in years and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  Not least because I am a bit of a Hugh Grant fan. 

 

The film primarily follows the lives of Will - a 38 year old single man who has never worked a day in his life - and Marcus - a teenage boy who lives with his depressed mother and struggles to fit in at school.  This unlikely pair find their lives overlapping and discover that they have a lot to learn from each other.

 

At the beginning of the film, Will explains how he sees himself and his life:

 

In my opinion, all men are islands.  And what's more, now's the time to be one.  This is an island age.  A hundred years ago, you had to depend on other people.  No one had TV or CDs or DVDs or videos or home espresso makers.  Actually, they didn't have anything cool.  Whereas now, you see, you can make yourself a little island paradise.  With the right supplies and the right attitude, you can be sun-drenched, tropical [...] And I like to think that perhaps I am that kind of island.  I like to think I'm pretty cool.  I like to think I'm Ibiza.

 

This is an island age.

 

Isn't that the message we receive from the world?  We don't need other people for our happiness.  We can satisfy ourselves.  We can please ourselves.  We can fill our lives with things and experiences and technologies.  We can surround ourselves with people without ever having to really connect with anyone.  We don't have to risk being vulnerable or inconvenienced or uncomfortable.

 

But that's a lie.

 

We all need connection.  The grand narrative of the Bible is a story of people disconnected from God and from each other, seeking reconnection in a whole variety of ways.

 

In his book 'Sex God', Rob Bell writes,

The story [of the Bible] begins with humans in right relationship - in healthy, life-giving connection - with their maker.  All of their other relationships flow from the health of this one central relationship - people and God.  They're connected with the earth, with each other [...] Then everything goes south.  They choose another way.  And they become disconnected [...] We're severed and cut off and disconnected in a thousand ways, and we know it, and we feel it, we're aware of it every day.  It's an ache in our bones which won't go away.

 

Like Will, we can deny this "ache in our bones", this need for other people.  We can live separate lives and never let people get too close.  But we won't really be living.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all connected.  We affect other people and are affected by other people.  The Bible says,

"We are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around [...] Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we?"

[Romans 12:4-5 MSG]

By ourselves, we don't amount to much.  We need other people.

 

By the end of the film, Will's attitude has changed: 

Every man is an island.  And I stand by that.  But clearly, some men are part of island chains.  Below the surface of the ocean they're actually connected.

 

We are all actually connected. And that is where we find our meaning.