208.4 Spiritual Nourishment

I have just come back from my morning walk.  Today I walked the furthest I have walked since I started in April.  I think walking those hills in Cortona helped build up my endurance.  It felt wonderful to be back on my familiar route, listening to Willie Nelson and being surrounded by the beauty of this desert landscape.  Some folks tell me that they think the desert is barren, and I can understand why they might say that.  In fact, when we first moved here, I thought it was pretty uninteresting and stark.  That impression did not last for long.  Once I became aware (that important state of mind) of the seasonal changes in the desert landscape, and developed an appreciation for the vistas that are amazing beyond belief, the desert has become a source of spiritual nourishment.  One of my favorite sites is the ranges of mountains that arise out of the desert that may include up to five distinct rows of mountains, one in front of the other.

There is a tree that I walk by everyday that I pay special attention to.  In fact, I touch one of its branches as I pass it on my daily walk.  It touches my soul in response and fills me with wonder and pleasure knowing that I share this earth with it.

My son called the other day and was singing the old hymn, "For The Beauty of The Earth".  He had been to a memorial service where it had been sung and he was joking that he was proud that he had remembered all of the words as the result of us dragging him to church as a kid most Sundays.  It's a simple hymn, but it seems to have more meaning for me than ever before.  If you're not familiar with this hymn, here are the words to the first few verses:

For the Beauty of the Earth

---

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.


Refrain

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Refrain

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Refrain

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Refrain