Time and Nature

I believe in the restorative powers of Nature. The older I get the more I realize what a short time we humans have on earth. I am sixty-three and entering that age group when friends start to die off. This is blunt but true. Sometimes it scares me but mostly I am at peace with age and death. I am a city girl who at twenty-eight decided it was time to move to the country. I did and married a farmer. We look back on thirty-three years of all sorts of ups and downs, joys and satisfactions all woven into a lifetime of field work and raising beef cattle. My love of Nature brought me here and still sustains me. Mother Nature is never boring. The change of seasons with sunrises, sunsets, storms, cloudscapes, landscapes, wildlife and always the fresh air. For me the simple act of sitting out behind my house listening to the birds and the soft sounds of water running in the gully is such a tonic. Am I meditating? Maybe but I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as letting my senses slow down, pay attention and absorb. I remember doing the same thing as a youngster in my city backyard. We had trees, birds and bright sunshine there too.

What saddens me is the fact that time flies so fast. We are not here nearly long enough. The trees I admire will be here long after I am gone. They endure and grace the fields and hillsides with all their beauty and interesting shapes. Nature is always available. So I encourage everyone to let the stress of a busy life slip away by finding a quiet spot out there and let Mother Nature comfort you. Enjoy the scene and the way the light changes the colors. Beside the birds you will hear a wealth of other intimate sounds. The crickets and insects. The breeze and wind in the trees. Maybe even various wildlife, especially the small critters.

My one prayer is that if I live to be really really old, I will still be able to find a spot for myself out there.

I will breathe deep, watch and listen. She will never bore me.