Listening to the Earth

St. Benedict instructed us to “Listen and incline the ear of your heart,” but what should our listening encompass? Most of us probably think first of listening to God, and then perhaps to one another. However, it is becoming urgent for us to take time to listen to the earth, which, as part of God’s creation, carries its own wisdom. Consider the following verse from Christine Valtners Paintner:

Beyond my plans
for how to spend the day,
I hear the great breathing
of the sea.

We get so caught up in our human agendas that we forget to listen to the sea, which is a living, breathing organism. What does the sea have to tell us? After Hurricane Dorian blew through the Bahamas, someone posted a picture of a garbage-strewn beach and said, “When the planet is tired of being sick, she vomits all the ocean trash and pollutants back on solid ground.” Likewise, the reduction in the number of bees and butterflies, the increased number of earthquakes in areas where fracking occurs, and the increase in 100- and 500-year floods have something to tell us, if we have the good sense to listen.

Autumn is approaching. During this season of quieting within, may we all include some time to go outside and listen to earth’s wisdom.