If you feel exhausted by the news that you are hearing on a daily basis, you are not alone. We all long for good news, uplifting stories, stories of hope, kindness and love.
It is important that we keep our spirits up. I can’t keep my spirits up by listening to unending hours of news. Through the media, “The world is too much with us; late and soon” to quote the poet William Wordsworth. Twenty four hour a day news is an overkill. I don’t imagine that anyone actually watches the news that much but its constant access is not and cannot be healthy for anyone. We should be selective in the amount of news we consume. And for that matter, in how much television we watch per day. And even more important, we should be discerning in choosing our source of news. Misinformation abounds. Whole networks are devoted to misinformation.
If I understand Wordsworth’s lament, he saw the decline in man’s contact with nature and with the peace and calm that nature provides. There is nothing more calming than a walk through a nature trail or around a pond or lake. There is nothing to compare to looking out over an ocean, watching the waves, the ebb and flow of the tide or riding through the mountains and valleys to behold the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. Finding a peaceful scenic spot and a place to sit down for a while and “be still” and commune with God is therapy for the soul. Social distancing does not have to be “House arrest”. The triangle alone offers many nature trails, lakes, ponds and beautiful views of nature that can refresh our spirit. The therapy of God’s creation is available if we just take advantage of it.
Wordsworth saw the danger of man’s disconnect with nature. He was Leary of man’s pursuit of material things. He saw our preoccupation with material things a “waste”. Our failure to “be still,” to meditate, to pray, to search the scriptures, to think on our own, to weigh everything we hear and everything we are called to do by what scripture teaches is why “we are out of tune.”
One of the reasons that the Psalms have so much appeal to us is because the Psalmist, King David, and dozens of others who wrote them, lived in close proximity to nature. Read the Psalms and note the consistent reference to nature. A classic example is Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them.” Go outside one night. Look at the heavens and ponder what David experienced. It will lift your spirit.
In His Love,
Charles
