We live on an amazing blue and green planet in an amazing universe. We’re so fortunate to be alive at this moment. Multitudes, some of them even human, call it home, and we must share it, but despite its beauty, this country, this world, are broken in so many ways. Politicians seem determined to make us distrust or even hate each other. Anyone “different” from us and our own personal tribe is suspect. Once a person or group is deemed “less than,” then cruelty, mockery, and violence become acceptable and even embraced. Some religious leaders certainly aren’t exempt from sowing divisiveness with their judgmental stances either (chosen, saved, sinners, etc.)

I’m heartbroken, and angry, too, about the human and environmental (often at the hands of arrogant and money-hungry people) crises we’re facing. People are suffering in myriad ways, from poverty to sickness, to depression, to loneliness. Wilderness areas are being destroyed for greed and monetary gain without regard for the vital ecosystems that abide there, some beneath the surface. Why can’t everyone realize the importance of nature and thus respect, appreciate, and love it? Why can’t we all share this planet more peacefully, welcoming its diversity, human and other? Why does “different” have to mean “bad” anyway? Why are we doing this to our home and ourselves and our neighbors? It doesn’t make sense to me.

But then, when looking up at night and seeing the moon and a million stars, life seems different, peaceful, kinder, and I can feel a deep connection to the universe, the planet, every living and nonliving component. It gives me goosebumps, making me smile and tear up at the same time. That is nature spirituality at its most profound for me. None of us are more special than another in this vast cosmos; we all have a right to be here. I also feel it walking in the woods (Durant Nature Preserve, Raleigh, above), sitting by the ocean (my daughter and me at Kure Beach in the photo below) or a river, watching a collection of deer at dusk, listening to a thunderstorm as I fall asleep, etc. Nature is what ties us all together. It always has; it always will.

Nature is filled with opportunities for us to experience wonder, and with wonder and awe comes a pure joy. That joy loves and inspires and feels…and connects. For a moment, I, too, as Herman Hesse described it, “enter the world of unity.” For all our sakes and for the sake of our precious planet, we need to cultivate and embrace more wonder in our own lives and in those of our children (check out “The Sense of Wonder” by Rachel Carson), in our family and friends, even strangers. Let nature bring us closer to one another. Let nature help us heal our brokenness.