“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’
He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.'”
-Genesis 28:16-17
Yesterday’s Soul Nugget was entitled “Where do you experience the sacred?” I received many thoughtful responses for which I have thanked you. A friend who leaves on the Eastern Shore of Virginia took pictures of the lake and sky from his backyard. Creation pictures of our earth and nature – the earth, the air, the fire, and the water. The earth and nature are our First Scriptures – and our home ground. The earth is our Mother.
We did not come to earth, rather we came from earth. We are animated earth.
This recognition, one would think, would inspire us to have reverence for life, for the sacred, for the earth! But does it? Sometimes when I look at the earth, my eyes fill with tears of deep gratefulness for the unutterable beauty of the earth. Sometimes when I look at the earth, my eyes fill with tears of deep sorrow for we are not treating Mother Earth well and life on the planet as we know it is threatened and in jeopardy.
Please take a look at the earth, the air, the fire, and the water.
May you walk around the area where you live and may the eyes of your heart take in the awe inspiring beauty of the earth where you live. I think you too will experience the sacred where you live and move and have your being.
As the Quakers say: “Walk the earth in gladness answering to that of God in everyone and everything.”
Like our brother Jacob may we too awaken! Creation is the house of God! The gate of heaven is everywhere!
With you in awakening to who we are in God and to who God is in us.
