Artist, poet and spiritual director Aline Lindemann offers this reflection on finding God in nature. Aline is an apprentice with the Phoenix Center for Spiritual Direction.
The sun shines not on us but in us.
The rivers flow not past, but through us,
thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies,
making them glide and sing.
– John Muir
“This!” my brother, John said making a large sweeping motion with his arm as we walked together down the fieldstone path toward the acreage behind his home, “This is God to me.”
John’s Wisconsin home sits atop a small hill overlooking a lush grassy lawn surrounded by towering evergreens. Ferns, lilies and assorted ivies thrive here and every summer, also a lavish show of geraniums. In the middle of it all, he built a large garden where bumper crops of garlic, eggplant and tomatoes abound. Mother Nature is generous here. His statement was emphatic – almost as if he was letting me know that he had found God, and he was good with it. No catechism and no judgment needed here, thank you very much. I nodded, gazed at the distant tree line where his eyes seemed to be fixed, and continued walking with him, listening as he told me about his landscaping adventures.
His proclamation reminded me of the words of Thomas Keating, who once told a story of walking through a grove immersed in silence until all of the sudden, the trees “burst into action” as if standing in ovation. “The whole place was just exploding – leaves and branches in glee!” And then, he said with a smile broadening across his face, “fortunately, some humility awakened in me and I realized they are not waving at me – they are waving at God in me. So, I waved back.”
Thomas Moore said we have all the spirituality we need – it’s up to us to recognize it. Notice it. This awareness doesn’t have to take place in a cathedral or holy site. If we wait for a spot at the altar before recognizing divinity, we are missing out on a lot. Closeness and communion with nature feels good because it is a reunion; humans, plants and water are connected by the greater energy that created us – we are one. God is present in every particle. No nature, no God. Know nature, know God. Knowing this conjures a peace that is beyond understanding; it is divine.
****
Guest posting today is Aline Lindemann — an artist, poet, educator and spiritual director living and working in Eastham, Massachusetts.
Aline has a Post-graduate certificate in Religion and Education (Harvard Divinity and Extension Schools) and holds a Master of Liberal Studies with concentration in Religion, Culture and Health (Arizona State).
To learn more about the spirituality of the arts work she does, visit her website at https://www.alinelindemann.com/
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In