Friday, September 16, 2011

The Face of God

A week ago, I stood at my bedroom window for a last look out before drawing the
blinds. The moonlight was just bright enough to see that there was something out by the brook. A doe and her fawns often eat from the green apple tree, so I turned off my bedroom light to get a better look. The moon glimmered off a handsome set of antlers! It was the Buck!! I've lived here for 7 months now, and this is the first time I've seen a male. I watched in awe as he stood there, still as a statue. A doe walked up to him and they touched noses, and then she went for the apple tree. It seemed as if he was keeping watch, and when she was finished, they walked away.

I felt honored, like Nature had opened a window and let me see into another world.

In his essay "Nature" Emerson writes "Nature is the gigantic shadow of God cast on the senses. The beneficence, the beauty, the mystery of nature are like the beauty, the beneficence, and the mystery of God."

All of Nature is conspiring to support us and every culture has given meaning to it. The Chinese consider the deer to be a symbol of happiness and good fortune. Indeed, its name in Chinese is a homonym for the word abundance. The First Nation peoples say that the gentleness of Deer is the heart-space of the Great Spirit which embodies His love for us all. Celtic stories are full of The Stag leading fairies through the forest.

Back to Emerson: The first paragraph of this essay has these lines:
"The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?"

Yes, why not? Let's spend time admiring Nature every day. See the wonders, the magic, the face of God.

Spiritual Mind Treatment

Everything around me and in me is God. Everything I can experience with my senses and more, is God. This is what Nature is - God. In Nature I see examples of how we are all provided for, how abundant and beautiful Life is. I see my own Self.

Today I declare my eyes are open to Nature. I allow Nature to nurture me, inspire me, empower me. Like Nature, I open myself to the givingness of the Universe. I rejoice in It's beauty. I am enriched as I fill my senses with the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and feel of Nature.

I am so grateful I can do this. So grateful for this amazing planet we live on and all that is on it. I celebrate God as Nature today! And so it is.