God’s Creation and Spiritual Transformation
The Place I Want to Get Back To is where in the pinewoods in the moments between the darkness and first light two deer came walking down the hill and when they saw me they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay, let's see who she is and why she is sitting on the ground, like that, so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream, but, anyway, harmless; and so they come on their slender legs and gazed upon me not unlike the way I go out to the dunes and look and look and look into the faces of the flowers; and then one of them leaned forward and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life bring me that could exceed that brief moment? For twenty years I have gone every day to the same woods, not waiting, exactly, just lingering. Such gifts, bestowed, can't be repeated. If you want to talk about this come to visit. I live in the house near the corner, which I have named Gratitude.
Mary Oliver “The Place I Want to Get Back To”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ of Peace-Grue Parish,
Blessings to you and all you hold dear as summer begins winding down. As much as I enjoy summer, I also look forward to transitioning to fall. Growing up in this area, I have developed an appreciation for the changing seasons and its impact on nature, and I most certainly am grateful for the easy access to the outdoor world we enjoy living here. I decided to share this poem by Mary Oliver, because it truly reflects my own gratitude of God’s creation, although I can’t help but notice she avoids mentioning mosquitoes and wood ticks!
After living in a number of urban/suburban areas through the course of my adult life, I can’t help but laugh at myself thinking about how much my attitude has changed from when I was graduating from high school and could not WAIT to get out of this area. Fast forward over 40 years and my feelings have definitely changed, experience and self-reflection tend to do that to a person. Has the natural world around here changed that much since I was 18 years old? No, not really. What has changed is me.
In my own spiritual journey, I recognize this beautiful creation God offers us to enjoy is simply one example of God’s abundant love for us all. Perhaps what makes creation so compelling and inviting is how it is constantly and brazenly offering us examples of God’s transformative power. Whether it be the changing of a fawn’s spots over time, the emergence of milk-weed that grow, develop pods that eventually explode with seeds propagating the landscape, all while nourishing and providing habitat for caterpillars which go from cocoon/chrysalis to beautiful moths and butterflies. It’s all a beautiful reminder of how we are transformed by grace through Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection.
As grateful as I am for creation, I am exponentially more grateful for Jesus coming to die for all our sakes so that we too can be transformed into better versions of ourselves, freed to live into our work of loving and serving in the kingdom of God into eternity. I hope you all have the opportunity to take time and savor these moments of beauty and transformation that nature offers us throughout each and every season of the year as well as the seasons of our lives. Remind yourselves to give thanks to our God who loves us so much he created so much for us to enjoy, and most importantly, so loved the world that Jesus came to the world to save and transform us too! God’s Peace to you and all you hold dear, Pastor Julie
Pastor Julie