Travel – Spirituality & Healing

Living in harmony with nature

Published on December 14, 2018December 5, 2018 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

The leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations…Revelation 22:2

Being in the forest and witnessing the awesome beauty of nature has inspiring and transforming effects. A recent newspaper article reports that spending time in nature has many health benefits including a release of stress and anxiety. I think many of us have felt the calming effect of taking a walk through the woods.

I certainly love my walks in the woods and I especially love autumn leaves. To me, autumn leaves are a little way God is saying “see how awesome and beautiful I am!” The beautiful skies and gentle breezes in the leaves are incredible. On my walks I always gain much needed inspiration and feel an affinity for the Creator and creation.

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. Psalms 24:1

All creation including the land, animals, and humans exist to show forth God’s awesomeness. Recognizing this enables us to appreciate each other and helps us find ways to live in harmony. How do we live in a way that enables every thing that has breath to praise the Lord? This was one of the questions posed by Dr. Barry Huff in his wonderful talk entitled “The Earth is the Lord’s…” (Ps 24:1): Biblical Inspiration for Sustainability.

God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. I John 4:16

When we dwell in love, we naturally express appreciation and respect for those around us including people, forests, and animals. Our prayers and actions can lead us to solutions for environmental challenges. When we broaden our sense of divine Love to include love and care for every living being, we see harmony, balance, and order restored to God’s beautiful creation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Published on November 23, 2017November 22, 2017 by lindseybiggs1 Comment

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.—Mother Teresa

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. —John Muir

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

The beauty of life

Published on November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color.¹

Beauty is a thing of life….wow….isn’t that the truth. When I was a photographer, my job was to look through this lens of life to see beauty in the details. I did a photo series on shadows that were cast by light shining through blown glass. The reflections looked like abstract images of water. You could almost see faces, boats and other shapes in the series. Beauty is everywhere; all around us. Have you ever seen someone in whom light and joy radiated through their eyes? I have. This has since taught me that beauty is, indeed, a thing of life. Because it dwells in God, divine Mind, we can see it all around us.

For in Him we live and move and have our being.²

Being in awe of beauty is a therapeutic action (the Greek word therapeo means in English “to heal”³). Looking at the stars and moon, looking at the smile on a friends face, the sweet voice of a child, all remind me of God and God’s goodness. It is as if these are God’s faces, God’s smiles, and God’s laughter and voice. Perceiving beauty has therapeutic effects.

When I was in high school and college, I thought beauty was something I did — a way I acted or a way I dressed. I have since learned the beauty is not something we do; it is something we are. We shine because God is light. We reflect beauty because God is beautiful. We laugh because God expresses Her joy. We are like rays flowing out from the central sun, who is God. We are never disconnected from our Source, which is why we have the right to express all the beauty, poise, grace, love, energy that God has for us today. Nothing can stop it because nothing — no circumstance, physical ability, lack or limitation — can ever separate you from God, divine Love (even if you seem to be separated) for an instant.

Just like nothing separated me from God through past mistakes and lessons learned. We are one with the light of God, with the light and activity of Christ. We always have been and always will be. Seeing beauty around us is one way we can perceive the spiritual reality, God’s presence, all around us.

let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.⁴

________

1 Mary Baker Eddy, Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 247
2 Acts 17:28 NRSV
3 Emmanuel Y. Lartey, In Living Color: A Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling Second Edition, p. 55
4 Matthew 5:16 NRSV