Thoreau said, "Nature does not cast pearls before swine. There is just as much beauty visible in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate,-not a grain more."
I love this quote (even though in that first part he tweeked the Bible a bit) because I find it is absolutely true. The more you love it, study it, marvel over it, the more you see and the more wonder it produces in your life. I guess you could call me wonder-struck, for I can't get enough!
Clare (my nature-loving daughter) shared with me yesterday that in England someone is campaigning to bring back "nature tables" to the schools. Remember ( if you are old enough to have this memory) the big, low table in your elementary school room filled with wasps nests, rocks,butterflies, scary looking dried walking sticks and praying mantis? Remember how your teacher would take you there every day and talk about each item, inviting you to ask questions and bring whatever you found to share with the class? What she was doing was trying to cultivate your imagination and a perception and regard for what is true, through observation.
We teach children facts all the time, but do we teach them the value of observation? To see a thing is not just looking at it. Nature study also cultivates a love of the beautiful and a comradeship with life out doors while educating us about our amazing world. Our world needs children who have an appreciation and understanding of nature as much as children who understand technology. If we, as parents and grandparents don't foster and hand down this important knowledge to our children and grandchildren, our world will be filled with self-centered young adults with thin souls. Nature is a great teacher of our small place in the vast universe. However to me, the most important aspect of nature study is its undeniable power to proclaim its creator. "Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." The more you appreciate nature's offerings, the bigger role gratitude plays in your heart, and that, my friend, is a mighty good thing!
We have a nature table in our library here at home. It is filled with found objects that bring God and His love for us inside our house. Acorns, butterflies, pressed leaves, intricate shells, moss, bird feathers, eggs, nests and other wondrous designs He's come up with for our pleasure, are all over it. Here, too, are nature guide books about birds, insects, trees and plants. I'm always on the look out for fresh finds because our grandchildren have free reign to pick up, carry around, rub and poke the treasures. A bird nest can stand just so much investigation, especially by a certain 3 year old we've nicknamed "jackhammer." But as Longfellow said, "there are no birds in last year's nest" so we'll just go and have the joy of finding another one--ever grateful for that.
No comments:
Post a Comment