Man Craves the Outdoors

Have you noticed how people crave the outdoors? It doesn’t matter what the excuse, it can be anything from a simply walk, vigorous sports or lazy sun bathing, but people need to get out of buildings and connect with nature.

It has been an especially long, cold winter and spring in Canada this year. After one week of warmth, we endured another cold stretch. Today, though, is the beginning of the Victoria Day long weekend. Everyone seems to be excited; it is warming up once again. Cars jammed the highways last night, as people rushed to escape into the countryside, shop for bedding plants or open cottages.

Man was never meant to live surrounded by concrete. There is a vital rejuvenating energy in nature that restores and heals our emotions and our inner spirits.  It is a divine energy. God, who is  in all, is most accessible and visible in nature. Even if we can’t express this concept, some unconscious part of us pushes us out the door and into the arms of nature.

Mother’s day was cold last weekend, although my very grown-up kids  still followed tradition and came bearing hanging flower baskets and bedding plants, we ending up cutting and stacking wood and not digging in cold, wet soil like other years.  So with the rest of the country, I can’t wait to get outside and into my gardens. We are fortunate to live on seven acres, with a creek, meandering gardens, a field of clover and lots of trees, deciduous and pine.  Just by looking out our windows,  I can feel the power green as it  flows into my eyes and feeds my soul.

Adam Boras Domingo,  studying for the priesthood, related this anecdote in comments.

I remember the very first weekend I had in our seminary, one of the Indian brothers asked me to remove my sandals as we work on the garden. When asked why, he explained that we are meant to be one with nature and that It’s our natural calling. Though he wasn’t really clear in his explanation, I sort of understood what he was trying to say.

Adam and Eve didn’t have slippers.