Lent often includes a spiritual practice. For a deepening spirit this season, turn your thoughts and prayers to creation: with gratitude for the life we receive from the earth, and with mindfulness of the urgent need to be God's stewards of creation Week 1: Wonder
This week, be in awe of the miracle of soil. Bert Siemens describes soil in this way: Soil supports life. Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids and living organisms that combines to supports life. Soil is a medium for plant growth, a supply of water and water purification, a storage of carbon and a modifier of atmospheric conditions. Soil contains organisms, which includes but not restricted to bacteria, fungi, earthworms, insects, reptiles and burrowing mammals and birds. Scripture: Psalm 65:9-13 God, you care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. Poetry beneath the ice and snow lies soil dormant now, waiting silently for light and warmth to awaken billions of microbes teeming through tunnels and passages in complex beautiful fragile balance a mystery a miracle of life waiting beneath the ice and snow Reading: Soil - The Miracle We Take for Granted by Peter Steinhart Spiritual Practice: As the weather slowly warms, walk mindfully. Be conscious of the miracle of soil beneath the snow and ice, beneath our feet. Stand in awe. Give thanks to the Creator. |