Finding Serenity in Nature

Dear Diary,

The Weigela bush at the end of the studio is in full bloom and that means my Swallowtail butterflies will return.  Just like clock work they come.  Today, the light was just right and the wings were illuminated so beautifully.  I sat on the stone wall and watched him move from blossom to blossom.  Sometimes, like this, he would stretch out his wings and just rest momentarily before moving on.  It was sublime.

I find great serenity in nature and it goes beyond just liking a pretty landscape or admiring a flowering shrub.  I have learned to see the sacred in the commonplace and that has made all the difference to me.  A French friar, Eloi Leclerc (1921-2016), once said, paraphrasing St Francis:  “If we knew how to adore, then nothing could truly disturb our peace. We would travel through the world with the tranquility of the great rivers. But only if we know how to adore.”


There is so much to adore in nature if we just sit still long enough and look deeply into what is in front of us.   We don't have to travel great distances either, it is as near to us as our own backyards.  With the world seeming to spin out of control at times, there is great peace in that.