QOTM...*: John Muir's Enthusiasm

(*Quote of the Month)

It’s time again for something from John Muir. Muir, as many of you know, was a naturalist and author of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a man of Christian faith, and an enthusiastic and effusive observer of the natural world. For me, he embodies some of the best of the etymology of the word ‘enthusiasm’: break the word down and it comes from two Greek words – en, which as you can imagine means ‘in,’ and often finds itself a prefix to a larger word, and theos, the Greek for ‘god.’ To be enthusiastic, therefore, is to be ‘in god,’ or put another way, ‘to be possessed of God.’ I like that, more fun with words! The man Muir was indeed wholeheartedly possessed, so much so that some considered him a kook. But at times I know that feeling…

I wrote on him in one of my very first blogs nearly three years ago and you can learn more about him here, including the fearsome experience that launched his zealous attention upon God’s creation.

Here are the quotes. They have little to do with each other and their sources escape me, yet I include them together here only because they both are found on the interpretive signs (the photos) surrounding the visitor center at White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico, which we called upon several times during our ministry nearby this past year.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

This sounds a little C.S. Lewis-y to me. What do you think? Perhaps it is just reminding me of a Lewis quote. But the propensity for the natural world to mingle our out-goings and our in-goings… it’s a lovely thought. God’s presence is like that as well. Even the Psalmist said, The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore (121:8).

The second quote:

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and places to pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.

I imagine this kind of quote was part of his rhetoric as he stumped for the establishment and extension of the National Park system. Yet it’s true, beauty and bread. It’s what keeps me ‘going out.’ I trust you will be fully blessed by both at some point in the days immediately ahead.

~~ RGM, September 26 2015

QOTM...*: C.S. Lewis and the Season of the Aspen

(*Quote of the Month)

Here in Colorado it is the season of the aspen. Elevations above six thousand five hundred feet have come alive with the tree, complimenting the evergreens. Aspens actually are part of a broad and ubiquitous family of trees that show themselves in widely diverse habitats across the United States and elsewhere – including poplar or ‘popple,’ the many varieties of birch, even cottonwoods – a family of trees called populus. Several of them proliferate here, but it’s the aspen most people watch for. They present the first hesitant new green of a mountain spring and later turn golden in September, drawing people to the high country in hordes to behold their lush glory.

Each of these species of trees, however, has one thing in common: their leaves quake. It has to do with the way in which the leaf stem is shaped. Typically, deciduous leaf stems are round; not so populus. Next time you are near one of these trees, get close enough to pluck a leaf and you will find that the stem is actually flattened somewhat. This allows the leaf to pick up even the slightest whisper of a breeze and quiver just a bit (like the difference in flexibility between a short piece of rope and the same length of strap). It’s why one of the colloquial names for aspen is ‘quaking aspen.’ With that leaf in your hand, give it the slightest of shakes and watch it quake. Now multiply that near silent sound by fifty thousand or so, unless it’s a grove (which it usually is), in which case multiply by a million or more! I love the sound. There are aspens next to our backyard deck, and the sound often grabs my attention there or when I hike. Cottonwoods tend to give the loudest rustle as they have the largest leaves.

The rustling of leaves… Is there a lovelier note in the melody of natural music? Some can match it – a robin’s night song, the rhythm of waves, ‘whispering’ pines – but none can surpass it.

I’m glad Clive Staples Lewis knew that sound, as it helped him form the image for a thoughtful reflection that provides my quote of the month:

At present, we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door... We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.

C.S. Lewis… I am surprised it has taken me this long to share a quote from him! A prolific writer of the mid-20^th Century, Christian apologist, member of the English faculty at Oxford and then Cambridge, and active colleague in Oxford’s Inklings society (along with Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and others), he is perhaps most well known for his Chronicles of Narnia, a series of allegorical fantasy tales beautiful in their own right, but really telling the story of God’s redemption of the world. If you have missed it along the way, and especially if you have kids, check your public library for a copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and read it aloud; it will capture young and old alike. But his apologetic writing is remarkable as well (The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, Mere Christianity [voted by Christianity Today the best book of the 20^th Century], etc.), all rife with an earthy understanding of the Christian faith and how to express it to those without a Christian worldview.

This particular quote is from Lewis’ well-known sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” At this point, he is reflecting upon the difference between a merely physical understanding of life, and a broader, spiritual one: a person who may not yet appreciate a spiritual worldview might be likened to one who would observe nature from inside a building, without realizing he is on the wrong side of the door. The hope is that the rustling leaves outside might draw us there to observe the splendors available to us if we will only avail ourselves to them. And so our getting ‘out’ may actually be the key to our getting ‘in.’

Jesus himself said, “You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone born from above by the wind of God, the Spirit… (John 3:8).”

My friends, listen. A breeze is gently blowing and the leaves are starting to quake. Pay attention to the sound. It’s gentle, but that is the customary character of the voice of God.

~~RGM, June 26, 2014