Nature Notebook
“I just need to have long periods of no talking and no special thinking and immediate contact with the sun, the grass, the leaves; undistracted by statements, jokes, opinions, news...”
Practice
Get a Notebook. A real, paper notebook is helpful. Preferably one that fits in a pocket. In addition to a notebook, a favorite writing implement. You know you have one.
Find a Place. What slice of the natural world can you access right now? It may be a stretch of urban sidewalk, a greenbelt in the suburbs, a bird feeder on your balcony, or a clearing in the woods. It’s all crammed with heaven. Be intentionally present to that place at least once a week.
Write It Down. Put pen (or pencil) to paper and write what you notice. What do you notice? What changes? What stays the same? It could be two words, a sentence, or a paragraph. Are you reminded of something else—a poem, artwork, song, or memory, etc.?
Return. At the end of each month, read back on the entries in your notebook. What do you notice? What is God inviting you to?
I live in the middle of the Buckinghorse neighborhood in Ft. Collins, developed in the mid-2010s on what was the Jessup family farm. The trees along the streets have 10 years of growth on them and feel permanent. Some of us have gardens that are the destination of evening walks, some of us don’t. The natural world of the neighborhood is always at work.
Just one block over from our house is a walking path. Take it east a bit, and I’m presented with options. I can continue east, through the new neighborhood park, and eventually end up at the recently completed stretch of the Poudre River trail. Before it was completed, I’d traverse over a busted-down green gate and follow the footprints of dog walkers in the dirt and snow. This took me to a big cottonwood, with Bullock’s Oriole nests hanging from the branches by the dozens. Thankfully, the cottonwood was left alone and routed around when they paved the trail. Most folks likely pass by these days without noticing the treetop neighborhood just 20 yards away.
Or, I can hang a left and take the sidewalk past some storage units and cross the street to the Prospect Ponds Natural Area. These two ponds used to be gravel quarries, with companies rerouting the Poudre River in order to get at the natural resource in the river bed. The current beauty of this place is a bittersweet testament to “progress” and the healing power of nature. On the east side of the natural area, there is a game trail that follows the bends of the river. After a late spring storm 4 years ago, a handful of old trees snapped under the weight of the wet snow. Walking the path with a friend afterwards was shocking. The ways we knew to go were blocked. We had to be curious and find new ways. On one walk, my friend Katrina said, “Isn’t it a privilege to become so familiar with a place that we get to notice how it changes around us?”
These are notes from being present to the nature of the neighborhood where I live. These are observations of the sacred place I am called to call home: a neighborhood in Ft. Collins, built on old farm land, built on land stewarded by the Arapahoe people, and unknown inhabitants further back than that. These are the markings of simply noticing what is going on in the created world around me, allowing that to be enough, and wondering with the Loving Creator, “What is my place here?”
Being freely & lightly attuned to the natural world around us reminds us of the patient pace of the Creator. This is not something to accomplish, but something to enter into, because it’s all happening anyway, and we aren’t at the center of any of it. We are invited to meet God in the wonder, enjoyment, and grief of it all.
Chris Hess is the director of The Abbey and the Denver Seminary Soul Care Initiative, inviting Colorado's pastoral and nonprofit leaders to rest, be cared for, and remember their unqualified belovedness. Chris pastored for 17 years in Ft. Collins, CO, where he still lives with Jessica & their four kids. After living all over the city, they are happy to call the Buckinghorse neighborhood home.
