How we think about a landscape affects our ideas of beauty, not to mention what we have become used to. For instance, most people look at a swath of power lines cutting through a forest and think little of it because we have become so used to this sight. But raise the question of a field of wind turbines and some people say it’s unsightly.
But those wind turbines reduce the need to have huge oil derricks, not a pleasant sight at all. There are “no miracles needed,” says Mark Jacobsen, a Stanford civil and environmental engineering professor, just reliance on sun, wind, and water to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. When it’s cloudy, use wind like the Nordic countries.
As the sun struggles to break through the clouds, we see the peach sky turning blue, opening us to its beauty. How is it we want our landscape to look? We can change our dependence on ugly oil derricks and the pollution they cause to something cleaner. We just need to transform our image of the landscape.
Prayer for the Day
Even now, God, the beauty of a winter morning surprises us,
Its starkness opening us to the details of your creation;
Still caught in our past, we consider uncertain futures
Praying in our hearts that hope will bloom as the spring to come.
May we be open to your Spirit and walk into a new future
With a dedication to living the Gospel.
In the name of the One who is our model,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
- Anne Bradstreet, first poet published in America (1612-1672)
There must be some nerve and heroism in our love, as of a winter morning.
- Henry David Thoreau, American writer (1817-1862)
To you I life up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until we receive God’s mercy
Psalm 123: 1-2