The Inspiration of Nature
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
August 10, 2025
Good Morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections. For today’s message, I ask that you take your laptop, iPad, or phone and find a comfortable place somewhere outside. At the meetinghouse today we are celebrating Sunday Funday and are working outside. The text I have chosen for this morning is from Romans 1:20 from The Message version.
By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.
I don’t know how many times, I have been trying to come up with a solution to a problem, or trying to get a sermon started, or just wanting to deal with or work out something frustrating, and realized that what I really needed was to go take a walk around my neighborhood, head out into my back yard, or get in the car and head to a park or natural setting. This was a little easier in Oregon, but I have come to find some wonderful places in nature here in Indiana, as well. Heading outside allows me to unwind. Drinking in the greenery, the blossoms, the birdsong, my thoughts begin to flow again.
Over numerous years of research, I have found that many creative spirits, like you and me, have found inspiration, motivation, and rejuvenation in the natural world. As both a person of words and a visual learner, one of the reasons I find clarity in nature is because it does not require words. As Friend and author Doug Gwyn says,
“One of our biggest difficulties, I think, is that we live so much in language and so much in a mediated world of electronic media and print media, all of which tends to distance us from our connection to the natural world.
Getting into that sense beyond language is not only healthy for personal spiritual renewal, but it’s also crucial to reconnecting with the natural world, which is a nonverbal world.”
Last year when Sue and I took two months to explore the lives of three extremely creative people, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Georgia O’Keefe and Walt Disney, we found what inspired, motivated, and rejuvenated them was nature.
From standing on the banks of the creek on the farm in Marceline, Missouri where a young Walt Disney sat under his Dreaming Tree…
To having lunch on the porch of the Ghost Ranch outside of Sante Fe, New Mexico looking across the Red Hills at the mountain, Cerro Pedernal which appears in 28 of Georgia O’Keefe paintings and where her ashes are spread…
To feeling the cool wind on a summer day catching us off guard on the prairie in Desmet, South Dakota where Laura Ingalls Wilder both struggled to survive and found a simple beauty that gave context to her stories.
And that was not all, we followed their adventures through some of the most beautiful places in our country. From the Grand Canyon, through the deserts, to the shores and woods of California, these three creative spirts continued to seek nature for continued motivation, inspiration, and rejuvenation.
What I have found ironic is that most of what we knew about these three people were through books we read about them or by them. Not until going and experiencing the places of natural beauty ourselves, could we more fully understand or see.
This was getting beyond language, beyond books and printed media, it was putting us in spaces where nature was working on our body, mind, spirit, and creativity in a way that our daily lives within buildings, offices, classrooms, and even the vehicles we drive could not accomplish.
Sue and I walked away from this experience with a lot to process (I am still processing it, today).
We knew that growing up on farms, and engaging nature was part of the overall process for these three, but not quite like what we found when we put ourselves in the places that inspired them.
This morning, we have chosen to put ourselves outside for worship. We are intentionally engaging nature this morning. And in many ways nature is calling upon us to engage. I wonder what we might see differently, how we might play more freely, create more uniquely, and connect more deeply?
Scientists have what they have labeled Attention Restoration Theory (or its acronym ART – which I think is ironic). As I have been processing my own creative expressions and considering my experiences in nature, I have returned to Attention Restoration Theory on several occasions.
Attention Restoration Theory is having something other than work to focus on which lets the brain recover from cognitively demanding tasks.
Getting into nature is ideal for Attention Restoration as it triggers something known as “soft fascination.” This means that the natural environment attracts your attention in a pleasant, gentle way that doesn’t demand your full or deep focus. Unlike other restful activities like reading, watching TV, or playing a game on our phone, enjoying the breeze in a park or listening to the birds in our backyards doesn’t require your attention.
Actually, science suggests that you and I are instinctively drawn to other living things, whether that is plants, animals, landscapes, or friends and partners.
Additionally, research shows that green spaces encourage a more meditative, open mindset, meaning that we may be primed to take notice and accept inspiration more readily while out in nature.
This is why we worship outside at least once a year. I wonder what would happen if our committees met outside on occasion, or small groups met in parks, or we took walks with each other to process the issues of our Meeting?
This is not something new for us Spiritual beings.
In 1652, the founder of Quakerism, George Fox traveled from Yorkshire to Lancashire and felt led by the Spirit to climb Pendle Hill – a huge mass of green space. This natural space is so important to Fox’s greater vision. The Spirit led him there to better see what he was to do.
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert for 40 days where upon his return had a clearer vision for his ministry. He also goes often throughout scripture to be alone in nature, a garden, on the water, among the olive groves.
Buddha experienced enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.
Even the story of Islam’s formation starts outside in a cave called Hira, where the Prophet Mohammad loved to hike, climb, and explore caves.
Almost ALL of the creation stories on this planet begin in a garden.
And I could go on and on, but this morning, I want to offer us an opportunity to be present in nature and see where the Spirit nudges and guides us.
I have prepared a short, guided meditation. It will obviously utilize words, but in the end, it will leave you silent in this beautiful space.
To help us get into a place of connection with nature and the Spirit, I ask that you find a posture where you can feel comfortable, where you feel safe in the environment, you’re in. Some of you may want to lay down on the grass and others just sit comfortably in your chair. You are free to move to a different place than you are currently. Let’s find that position now.
Next you can close your eyes for a few moments to center down – just let your attention settle and the busyness of your mind subside.
Take a moment to acknowledge your body, sensing your physical body touching the ground whether that is your entire body or just your feet. Feel your connection with the earth. Feel the support of the land, of the earth, under you. It’s always there: present, supportive, nourishing. You may want to take off your shoes and allow your feet to make a natural connection to the ground.
And as you sense your breath, consider that with each inhale you’re taking in oxygen that’s released from leaves, plants, plankton. And each exhale is releasing carbon dioxide that’s reabsorbed by plant and tree life either nearby or far away. Sense how it’s just that simple breath that’s connecting you to this vast web of life.
Do you feel any sense of appreciation as you inhale, that the life—trees and grasses—sustains you, nourishes you? And with the exhale, maybe there’s a sense of well-wishing, warmth, love, appreciation to all the photo-synthesizing life that allows you and all breathing beings to live, to survive.
Now, take a moment to reflect on a time when you were recently engaged by some experience in nature—something that moved you. Perhaps it was an encounter with an animal or bird. Perhaps it was a tree in a forest, or an ocean, a sunset, or the night sky. Recalling that experience and then extending your heart with a sense of warmth and kindness, love, well-wishing, toward whatever it was that moved you. Perhaps you’re radiating a sense of kindness, friendliness. Thank the Spirit for reminding you and showing you this.
And now, since we are sitting outside, you may choose to open your eyes and look around. Take in the trees or the grasses and the plants, or whatever part of the landscape draws you. And, again, extending a sense of warmth, friendliness, love. You can do that through silent phrases that express your heart’s wish for life:
May these grasses, may these trees, may all the beings that live here—animals, birds, insects—be healthy. May they be safe and protected.
Use whatever words come to you that express your heart’s wish for the life all around you. Say these words silently. Repeat them a few times. They can be inspired by whatever is around you, or whatever comes into your mind and heart. Consider whatever part of nature engages your spirit – to whatever you wish to extend this sense of warmth and loving-kindness.
May all the beings on this earth be safe and protected from harm. May all endangered species, and all species, be safe. May all creatures be happy and thrive. May all life be healthy, vital and express themselves creatively.
Now, notice the people sitting or lying around you. They too are part of creation, creatures who need safety and protection. Maybe they are a spouse, a family member, a loved one, a friend. Consider how they have supported, cared for, and inspired you. What have they taught you, created for you, and offered you? What have you taught them, created for them, and offered them? Extend to them a silent blessing of safety and protection and gratitude for having them in your life.
Now, sensing into the life around you, radiate a sense of warmth and kindness as you hold all these things in the Light and in silence. You may be sensing into how this experience of love is a process of giving and receiving. You may be feeling how loved or touched you are by the natural world, and how the heart naturally wants to respond with offering loving-kindness, well-wishing. You may sense a new gratitude and appreciation for those around you. And finally, you may desire to find a way to respond, to create something, to change something, to connect, or relate more deeply in this moment. Consider what that may be.
And, of course, including oneself as part of the Earth’s moving surface, and including all peoples everywhere: those near and far, those you know and don’t know. May all these beings, or peoples, or creatures everywhere be safe from harm, be protected, live with health, with creativity, with happiness, with safety. Allow the heart to radiate in all directions—to all elements of this earth, to the life that lives here.
Finally, let’s enter sometime of silence. Take time to reflect on what you have experienced, and allow yourself to sense the Spirit’s guiding and nudging this morning…