Praying with Nature 
 

One of the beautiful things about Easter is that it is spring and all around us there is evidence of new life, God’s creation at work. For your prayer exercise over the next few weeks try and take a walk and appreciate God’s beautiful creation and pray with that experience.  Below are a few tips to help you make the most of your prayer time. 

Prayer Guide: 

Take a slow walk outside alone or with someone else. If you have company, choose not to talk to each other for a while so that you can be more aware of everything else around you. You can take a walk in your home garden, own neighbourhood or out in the mountains, seaside, or riverfront. 

 

Begin by standing upright and balanced. Pull your shoulders back and relax. Notice your body and its subtle movements, possible tensions and aches. 

Become aware of Jesus being with you. Can you imagine what he looks like? What is he wearing? 

He invited you to go for this walk with you. He is eager to show things to you and be with you. You can talk to him quietly in your heart and listen to him as you walk, or just be quiet together. 

Start taking in your surroundings, the smells, sights, temperature and sounds. Do not rush. You might see something that you want to touch. Go ahead and touch it (if it’s allowed and safe, of course!).

After a while, notice if there is something in particular that catches your attention. Pause and get closer to it. Hold your gaze on the object or creature for some moments. It can be a stick on the ground, a tree, a stone, a building, an insect, or even a person. If you can, hold it in your hand. Take time to study the details of it (texture, weight, smell, etc.). You might even ask yourself what it would feel like to be that object.

Peacefully, keep your eyes on this one thing or person. Remind yourself that Jesus is with you and is watching closely the same thing that you are. Hold this gaze with Jesus. Imagine what he sees. What do you see? Is there something that Jesus wants to tell you through what you are looking at? Don’t analyse or try to explain anything. Simply look. 

 

Notice: 

What was it like to go for a walk with Jesus? How was it different from any other walk, even though Jesus is always with you? What made this time different? 

What did you notice about your surroundings? 

What did you spend time looking at? How was it for you to pay such a close attention for a long time to one thing? 

Reflection: 

Do you have a fixed “sit spot”, a "sacred place" out in the nature where you can go, rest, and observe the world around and within you?

What is your earliest memory of you enjoying the nature? Where were you? What did you do?

How does weather and your physical environment affect your life with God?

What hinders you from spending time outside? 

 

When you return home record your thoughts and feelings in a prayer journal. 

 

Taken from: /www.kutsucompanions.com

 

Record your thoughts and feelings in your prayer journal. 

 

Creative Prayer 

 

God gave everyone, individual gifts to use to make the world a better place. Creativity is one such gift, gifts such as this can be used as prayer time as we are using gifts given to us by God. Throughout the Easter Season we will examine a few ways we can use our creative gifts in prayer. Following on from our Nature Walk you may want to use that experience to make a Nature Walk Collage

Take a walk in a park, a wood, beach, or anywhere where we can experience the natural world around us so we can make a collage. We can achieve this in a few different ways: 

• You could take photos of interesting plants, wildlife or landscapes that you see on your walk. 

• Using a recording device, make a collection of the sounds you hear along your nature walk e.g. bird sounds, the wind, a river flowing etc. 

• On this walk collect a few leaves or petals that have fallen to the ground and use them to make a collage. (Please don’t harm anything that is still growing.) 

• Make a list of all the interesting things you see. 

• Write a description of your nature walk. 

• Take some rubbings from some of the leaves, bark and branches that you pass along the way. 

• Make some sketches or drawings. 

'Dear Lord, 

We thank you for the wonderful world in which we live. We thank you for the birds, for the trees, for the flowers, for the wildlife and for all the beauty of your wonderful creation. Today, we’re especially grateful for… (list some of the things you’ve seen on your walk.) Help us to never take this world for granted, to remember that it is a home we share and to always show care and consideration for the Earth and for nature in the way we live our lives. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.’

 

Record your thoughts and feelings in your prayer journal.