Recently, while hiking the Arbor Ridge Segment of Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail, I was delighted to find a Storywalk® reading of Micha Archer’s “Wonder Walkers.”
Getting kids outside and appreciating nature is both fun and challenging. Over the years I’d forgotten how much so, but now that I’m a grandma I’m regularly reminded. Being a grandma also reinforces the adult responsibility we have to preserve this magical creation for future generations. Archer’s book is perfect for kids and adults.
Earth Day is April 22!
Earth Day is an annual event that rallies support for environmental protection. Besides Archer’s beautiful pages, here is a miscellany of verses to add to the celebration. Best of all, since this year Earth Day is on a Saturday, it’s a perfect time to get out and do our own wonder walking.
“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Waking Up Poem
Life is like a dream and also like a stream,
Often thoughts are in a hurry, cloudy mind so full of worry.
Waking now and simply here,
peaceful mind is calm and clear.
—Winnie the Pooh
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
—Wendell Berry
“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
― Chinese proverb
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.”
—John Keats
“Caring for Creation is a natural expression of Christian faith. It’s a part of what you do to be faithful to Jesus and to love the things that God cares about. It’s like a spiritual discipline to me. So when you read about spiritual disciplines like prayer and fasting, you do those things. Not because you want to be really good at prayer and fasting. You do them because you want to be more like Christ. And if you could be more like Christ without those things, then you wouldn’t have to do them. So, to me, being aware of the earth and God’s Creation and caring for it is just another spiritual discipline, a means to the end of being more Christ-like.”
—Jon Terry, conversation with Nathan Aaberg
“There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn’t spoil the sky, or the rain or the land.”
—Paul McCartney
“I want my grandchildren to have the same clear-water experiences I had growing up.”
—Buzz Sorge, Love Wisconsin
You’re the voice I hear calling my name
You’re the song inside my head
You’re the whisper in the wind and the rain
When I listen
Teach me to listen
—Jason Upton, Father, Son, Spirit
“Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”
—John Updike
“Always remember we are under the same sky, looking at the same moon.”
—Maxine Lee
God of rising sun
be the warmth that I feel
God of gentle wind
be the air that I breathe
God of refreshing rain
be the cleansing I need
God of sacred space
be the peace that I crave
God of setting sun
be the rest I desire
—Celtic Prayer