Some years ago when I was teaching this series, I asked the participants to speak about their own relationship to Nature, and about any help it gave for praying or feeling closer to God and experiencing change. One very shy lady shared as follows:

The Flower Spoke to me...
When Father teased me that the time had come to share my experiences with Nature, this time I said ‘Yes’, without hesitation. Previously I would have instantly said ‘No’. When asked this time I felt something inside me saying ‘the time has come’, so I accepted without hesitation.

I believe that my attitude towards life has changed dramatically since I spent time gazing at the wonder of a wild flower blooming quietly by itself on the roadside. It is called a “skullcap”. I have seen them growing in bunches in the woods and on the river banks; but I had never seen a lone one, on a busy roadside, and growing up through thick concrete. I gazed at that flower for a long time, wondering where it had got the power to patiently force its way up to bloom in the light.

Then I realised that I was, till now, exactly like a usual “skullcap”, growing in a cosy and safe place in the middle of a bunch, and not trying to do anything special. However through this little flower, I was being shown that God had sown certain strengths in me too a long time ago, and now the time had come for me to display the gifts that I had received. I felt a great desire to break through my own hard shell and to come out, to bloom and display the fruit of the Spirit. And since that time, slowly but surely, my personality has started changing.

Relating with Nature Today

Today we live in our world surrounded by so much that is manufactured by ourselves. It is a world of concrete, steel and plastic. We are surrounded by the noise of engines and traffic. We smell smog and chemicals and exhaust fumes. We rarely take time to contemplate a sunset or a rainbow; to watch a cat play with kittens; to listen to the birds singing in the trees. Glancing at Mt Fuji from the “bullet train” is an apt metaphor of our modern relationship to Nature.

How to Pray Nature

1.  Picking an Object. Here are some examples: we can gaze at a flower, a plant, a butterfly, a bird, ants etc; we can listen to waves, a stream, birds, the wind etc.; we can smell new mown hay, smoke, roses etc; we can feel a soft breeze, the warm sun, the heat of a fire, a new woollen sweater; we can taste an orange, a mouthful of food, cool spring water etc. Find your own favourite objects, use different senses until you find the one that is easiest for you to use. Then pray these objects frequently.

2.  Deciding the Length of Prayer Always decide initially the duration of that particular prayer time and use it fully. I recommend at least 20 minutes.

3.  Prayer Time. Begin by concentrating on gazing at, (listening to, feeling, tasting or smelling) the chosen object. We must be passive, keep our minds empty, just wait to see what happens. It is not easy at first, but our struggles indicate we are on the right track. Gradually we discover more details we had not noticed. These draw us closer to the object. We may find ourselves having a conversation with it. One person shared about being deep in the mountains and feeling “silence so deep it seemed to hug me with strong arms”. At times while gazing at the angry waves crashing on the rocks, I have heard them say “we know your frustration, you are not alone”. Then we note, here God is whispering.

4.  Like the lady in the story, these experiences give us new strength.