{"id":5244,"date":"2018-06-13T23:05:19","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T21:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/?p=5244"},"modified":"2018-06-13T23:05:19","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T21:05:19","slug":"nature-bringing-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2018\/06\/13\/nature-bringing-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature bringing joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nO rhubarb red!  O joy!<\/span><\/p>\n

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For this post I’ve plundered a post from brainpickings.org<\/a> entitled “Nature and the Serious Business of Joy” featuring quotes by British naturalist and environmental writer Michael McCarthy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“There can be occasions when we suddenly and involuntarily find ourselves loving the natural world with a startling intensity, in a burst of emotion which we may not fully understand, and the only word that seems to me to be appropriate for this feeling is joy<\/strong>.”<\/div>\n

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“The natural world is not separate from us, it is part of us. It is as much a part of us as our capacity for language; we are bonded to it still, however hard it may be to perceive the union in the tumult of modern urban life. Yet the union can be found, the union of ourselves and nature, in the joy<\/strong> which nature can spark and fire in us.”<\/div>\n

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I commend the whole article<\/a> to you for more quotes and reflections.
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\nAlso check out Krista Tippett\u2019s On Being conversation<\/a> with Michael McCarthy.
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A prayer<\/h3>\n

I thank you, O God, for the pleasures you have given me through my senses; for the glory of thunder, for the mystery of music, the singing of birds and the laughter of children. I thank you for the delights of colour, the awe of the sunset, the wild roses in the hedgerows, the smile of friendship. I thank you for the sweetness of flowers and the scent of hay. Truly, O Lord, the earth is full of your riches!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

by Edward King (1829-1910) (adapted)<\/p>\n

from The Book of a Thousand Prayers<\/a><\/em> by Angela Ashwin, #211
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Digging deeper<\/h3>\n