Backstory: We take care of (earth partnership, earth stewardship) six acres of land, including woods, wildflowers, fields, and gardens, at Spirit Tree Farms in Northwest Georgia.
The other day I was out working in the field, planting chard, lettuce, and raking in wildflower seeds into a large area we’d burned a few days before. Sweating, I looked up at the sky and caught myself resenting the work I HAD to do. I noticed that I was feeling down in my soul.
Just then, several birds flew overhead. As they called out in a Springtime serenade, I felt my heart lift, and my soul rejoice. I continued what I was doing, but it was no longer with sadness or resentment, but with a glad and joyful heart.
Why is it that we can do the exact same thing, especially working out on the land, and it can either be a task or chore of druudgery, or something we do with joy and gladness? What is it that leaves us feeling uplifted and strengthened? What is it that makes the change?
As I thought about it, out in the field, I realized that the mere act of THINKING about what I was doing, and changing my mind about how I felt about my field work, helped me feel better about the tasks I was doing out in Nature.
Even more importantly, as I pondered about it, I had to ask myself: “Why am I doing this?” When I decided that I was doing what Heavenly Father — often — has asked me to do (partner with the land, heal the Earth), they my soul was uplifted. In fact, it was the birds flying overhead that reminded me that I was in partnership with them, and with all of Natiure. And whjen you feel like you’re part of something bigger and more significant, that you’re helping and serving the Earth and everything on it, that you’re working to heal the Land, then it is easier to feel joy in what you are doing.
Of course, that means you do have to ASK Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ — the Creator — WHAT they want you to do. What part are you to play in Earth partnership? They are the great biologists, the perfect gardeners. In The Book of Mormon, the prophet Amulek said: “Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.” (Alma 34:24). But I think it’s even more than your crops prospering. It’s YOU prospering in the crops of your fields, learning, growing with them, connecting. Even if what the Creator tells you to do doesn’t work out the way you think it should, you will learn from it and grow and change.
Most of all, you’ll feel connected with the Earth. You’ll feel part of a greater whole. And that connection lets you #FindNatureJoy in ways that will keep you doing what you need to do, what you should be doing, in ways that will support you and bring you joy.
Finding Nature Joy
As the birds soared and circled and called out to me as I begrugingly worked in the field that Spring day, I felt connected to them, and to what I was husbanding, planting, and tending in the field. I felt connected to the sun, the clouds, the breeze, the dirt. Smiling, I turned my face upward and waved at the birds. Then, weeping, I waved at them, thanked them out loud “THANK YOU!” for their song and their visit, and plunged my hands deep into the ground.
ANd felt connected to the Creator, to the Earth, to Nature, to all of Creation. Because I was a part of it.