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Writer's pictureDaniel Sievers

In the Midst of Loss the Earth Endures and Thrives

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Several times when I was enduring illness I opened the window and in the silence, I listened.  When feeling sick, or lonely, or needing peace, it is something I have done often, to listen to the music of nature.  Sadly, I have not done it much this year, but in the last two months, I returned to the comfort of the earth’s voice.  This time, as I listened to the unspoken words it is speaking, I can hear it clearly.  If I were to decipher what the earth is saying to me, to us, in this time of crisis, I believe it would be saying, “Remember, I don’t need you.  You need me.”

It occurred to me that the earth long ago opened the door and let us in to a large party where it is the host and we are the guest.  Not an ordinary guest, but one of those pesky guests who comes uninvited, sneaking in behind the well behaved ones, waging havoc and destruction as we go.  We stayed too long and helped ourselves to its resources, trashing the place and expecting the earth to clean up and replenish what we took without so much as a care in the world how it will do so.  You see, without us in attendance, earth can keep the place clean and thriving.  It is the unruly guest that causes earth to panic, spitting out destruction towards us.  We are the source of the mess.  As we struggle with the loss around us in the midst of the pandemic and are staying home, the earth marvels and celebrates that far fewer unwelcome guests are trashing its home, and the beauty it creates when undisturbed is incredible.

I long ago felt the connection with nature.  My energy runs through it or better yet, it runs through me.  I can spend hours watching the birds sing and feed their young, ants working on an anthill, a deer grazing in a field, and tall weeds blowing in the wind.  My idea of relaxation is walking among the wildflowers and trees listening to the bees buzz as they suckle the flowers. Earth and nature is my home more so then the building I live in.  It is the place peace truly exists.

We aren’t kind to our host.  We aren’t thoughtful of what it needs to exist.  We take earth for granted.  In this time of such tragic human loss, we need to remember our surroundings and be present, and in doing so, perhaps we will hear earth’s voice whispering to us, “Be kind to me.  Take care of me.  I am your life force!”

For honestly, when you step back and are truly present, you’ll see the gift we are given.  One we take for granted every day, to live in a paradise and one that costs nothing more than a little time and care to upkeep.  It is quite a miracle really.  So with the world slowing down to heal itself, this is a good time to be present and see all the earth provides and all that is there, given so freely to us.  Perhaps it is time we return the favor!

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