The Healing Earth

Earthing

By: Susan Deborah Schiller

In the "devotional" series

Later this week I'm taking my granddaughter into the wilderness, tent camping. We'll sit under the stars, roast some marshmallows, and listen to the silvery laughter of the ponderosas as the wind tickles their needles. 

Sometimes when life makes no sense, you just need to walk barefoot in the dirt, scoop your hands into the rich soil, and even bath your skin in the minerals. Children seem to intuitively understand this, and we adults need to follow their lead!

"Don't get dirty!" we warn our kids, when really it's our world's dirty culture that pollutes our souls.

The earth's dirt is different. It gives us balance when we feel we're falling. It centers us when life seems confusing and dizzy. 

This world is toxic, but the earth still brings healing. Sometimes you just have to walk under the stars and stare at the moon. Follow a child, climb some rocks, dig in the dirt!

Photo by Rod Schaeffer

The world is cold and dark, but I know God is shining and I seek His Light.

I dreamed last night I was viewing the starry night from a summer watchtower. As a result, next month I'm booking a watchtower to spend a few nights in solitude. Sometimes you just need to be still, to be silent, and to sit in solitude.

Sometimes we just need to return to what's real, what's true, and what's eternal.

"When our children were little, we had long bedtimes, stories, songs, prayers. And when things happened which were hard for us to comprehend like a sudden and unexpected death, I would pile the children into the station wagon and drive up to the top of Mohawk Mountain, to the fire-lookout tower, and we would lie on the great, flat glacial rocks and watch the stars come out, and talk about whatever it was that had shocked or hurt us. I'm not sure where the idea came from that all of creation is God's body, but if we must have an analogy, it is not a bad one."

"When I look at the stars to help me find perspective, I am seeking an alternate reality, one which is deeper and more real than the world of immediate consciousness…. We have strayed far from the reality of those peoples of the world who live close to the land, who listen to the language of the birds, the singing of the trees, the message of the clouds in the sky. Our loss. – Madeleine L'Engle in "And It Was Good"

God created the earth and called it "GOOD" – it makes good sense to believe the earth has healing powers. Today, as I still struggle to make sense of all the evil in our lives, I remind myself to look at the stars, the moon, and to run barefoot in the grass. Children are good teachers!

My Full Story     What I Believe    Contact Me

With all my love,

Sue

Copyright © 2010 to 2015 Team Family Online, All rights reserved.   For reprint permission or for any private or commercial use, in any form of media, please contact Susan Schiller.