Minister's Musings for May 2009
[Editor’s note: the following article is from the May Chalice Unitarian Universalist Congregation PrevUUs newsletter.]
Rev. Margo McKenna Brower
On Saturday, April 18th, as I watched the children play, create, and interact during Chalice’s Pledge and Play celebration, I was moved by their joy in the moment and their wonder at new experiences. The children reminded me of a passage I recently read in Rachel Carson’s book, A Sense of Wonder. Her words speak beautifully and poetically about what we can learn from the children around us.
A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. Too often it is our misfortune that the clear-eyed vision, and the instinct for what is beautiful and amazing, is dimmed or even lost before we reach adulthood. If I could have influence with the good fairy…of children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life….
What is the value of preserving and strengthening this sense of wonder, this recognition that there is something beyond the boundaries of our human existence alone? Is the exploration of the natural world just a pleasant way to pass the hours of childhood or is there something deeper?
I am sure there is something much deeper, something lasting and significant. Those who dwell, whether scientist or layman, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never…weary of life. Whatever the concerns within their personal lives, their thoughts and experiences from living with wonder at the beauty in life, and in the world, that fills our lives, find the paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who take the time to contemplate and to experience the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready to burst open in the spring. There is something infinitely…powerful, healing and grounding in the repeated refrains of nature…in them we are offered assurance that dawn comes after night, spring after the winter and hope after hopelessness.
Margo