Summer Time Zen

Summer arrives without argument. It does not announce itself with doctrine, but with cicadas in the trees, birds proudly singing their songs, grass rising after rain, the sunlight and humidity resting on us as if it has nowhere else to be.

In this season, once again, nature is our quiet teacher. So many of us are grasping for spiritual lessons hungrily, when our teacher has been here all along. I call her Mother Earth, or Gaia. She has all the intelligence we need, as her offering to us.

I once lived in a rural north Georgia community, it was like National Geographic Channel when it came to critters surprising you in your own back yard. We had ant eaters eating out large mounds of termites and ant beds. I also recall a large king snake resting in the back yard. His body was like a long triangular tube, and it appeared to be spreading out like a flat tire in the heat. That lesson tells me to relax. Take time for yourself. It’s o.k. not to work for a day, if you are taking care of you.

My home is now in Duluth, GA and it backs up to a nature preserve. We have the delightful dragon flies and praying mantis. I see the bumble bees going by and I’m reminded of a cartoon where they were depicted as buses for the fairies and microscopic people to ride.

The hotter it gets makes our peaches, plums, figs and watermelons sweeter. This is also the time that our vegetable gardens are producing those heirloom tomatoes. Home grown always tastes best.

So, the lesson from my perspective is to relax. Enjoy the gifts of nature, Mother Earth. The guidance is here for all of us to take in. Go within and ask what else do need to know.

When you look around at the end of your meditation, you can shift your mindset from sweltering hot to delighting in nature, but please feel free to step back into the air-conditioned home as you celebrate the Creativity and Wisdom of Nature including the genius that created air conditioning.

With love as always,

John Karn, D.D.