What if I told you, we all need nature…

I love our campus.

As I walk across the 200-acre campus at Concordia University Texas, I hear the trickle of the water under the bridge looking out towards the Nature and Wildlife Preserve. I smell the fresh flowers budding beneath me. I witness the birds (some rare species like the Golden-cheeked Warbler) flying above me, soaring through the mid-morning air. Before the packed day begins with anticipation of producing meaningful work ahead, I pause to be still, open handed, and receive each sense of nature around me.

After a moment of silence, I open up my small, tattered bible to Psalm 19 and whisper under my breath, “the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” I believe that the writer of this ancient song is expressing a profound truth. God is the creator of the world. The first article of the Apostles Creed captures it succinctly: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Without any of our doing, we are created, delivered, and received into a world full of God ordained wonder as our natural habitat and home.

Now my hope is that you are still with me. I hope you didn’t delete this post if you happen to disagree about the origin of the universe or get wrapped up into wondering how skies can proclaim God’s work. Please stick with me, I know it will be beneficial for your life.

Rather, I want you to reflect on humanities need for being in nature. Long before smartphones and packed calendars, naturalist John Muir wrote about the necessity of nature:

“Nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
— John Muir

The benefits of being in nature are endless, woven into the fabric of the universe. In his book The Comfort Crisis, Michael Easter makes this same claim. “A study out of The University of Michigan discovered that 20 minutes outside, three times a week, is the dose of nature that most efficiently dropped people’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The catch to that study, of course, was that the participants couldn’t take their phones outside with them." Did you catch that? Time out in nature, lowered stress hormones! Who doesn’t need that dose of lowered stress levels? We all do!

Jesus began his mornings, according to the journals about his life found in the Gospels, outside in the solitary places, talking to His Father in Heaven (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Matthew 4:1). Being outside in nature grounded his day and was a huge part of his daily rhythm.

We weren’t made for asphalt and iPhones. In our high-speed, super connected lives, it's easy to forget that our brains and bodies, inner self and deep souls crave something simpler—creation itself.

Reflect on your own experiences in nature. I don’t know the last time you were engulfed into the wilderness, desert, forest or ocean, but I hope that after reading about its benefits, you will plan a trip soon.

At Concordia, we often hold class outside when the weather is nice. You will see students studying and playing sports out in God’s natural playground under the sun. Alumni, student, parent of a student, or just someone who was captured by the title of this blog, my invitation for you is to get outside, get some sun, and glorify the one true God who created it all.

I love our campus...please come check it out.