Nature is Powerful!

40 of 45 Moments of Wonder

This week I experienced one of Nature’s most powerful forces – FIRE. It wasn’t exactly out in nature, but rather in my oven. On Tuesday, we made some tacos and one of the steps in preparing the tacos was warming the shells. My wife followed the same steps we always follow when making tacos but on this fateful day, a mistake I had made earlier would result in shooting flames, black smoke, a screaming smoke detector, a terrified dog and a very smelly house. The last time I used the oven I had moved the top rack up to make more space in the middle, and I didn’t move it back. So our taco shells were too close to the heating element which resulted in the fire.

Cleaning up the mess inside the oven, I was reflecting on how powerful nature is. Fire can destroy, but it can also make life easier, with warmth and light and the ability to cook food. How often do we disconnect from our technologically driven lives to really engage in the power of nature? Realistically, most of us can’t just turn off our cell phones and spend a week in the woods. But each of us can turn it off and take a walk outside. The sun, the crisp air and the sounds and sights of the natural world are often healing and soothing.

What can you do today to connect with the natural world? Can you take a walk? Can you tend to a plant or an animal? Maybe you can just open a window and enjoy the feeling of sun on your face? Can you take a drive away from the city just to take in some more natural scenes? I am going to take a walk today. I work at a school with a beautiful campus filled with trees and I am going to take a few minutes today to just walk among those trees.

I don’t recommend you experience the power of nature the way we did on Tuesday, but I hope that by disconnecting today for just a few minutes, you are able to reconnect with yourself and with the world.