9 January
Addo Elephant Park
Nature shows our need for one another spectacularly. We’ve been on safari the last few days. Time out from the urban landscape of South Africa and an opportunity to go slower.
Female Elephants, in a herd gather in a circle around the younger female calf’s when a predator approaches. They circle around them and provide the nurture needed for survival.
I have observed a very different phenomenon on social media. Environments when humans storm one another when they are weak. Gossiping and pulling people down, to make themselves feel seen or approved.
What if we nurtured one another in a way that was protective?
Have you worked in an environment, that preferred achievement over connection? I have also worked in places that create opposition over the unity that they value.
Can you create moments where the younger members feel safe?
This is nature showing us a way to protect and nurture one another for the future.
A group of giraffes is called a journey. They travel together, albeit very individual. They don’t need each other, but enjoy the journey. Therefore as they travel, they walk together, for the enjoyment of one another’s company. This posture of companionship inspires me to remember the beauty of travelling every day life with fellow people.
We live in a world that promotes individualism, but reminding ourselves that companionship is the beauty of a humble, quiet life— alongside. Nature proves an animal alone is unsafe. There are times, like when a teenage boy elephant must go and learn the lessons of independence, when it is important for his maturity. But also, a lone animal is an unsafe one. They are subject to predators.
We need one another. I need you. You need me. We are stronger together.
A group of zebras are known as a dazzle. It’s hard to know what is happening when all their stripes confuse the predator. They stand together, each stripe unique to the individual, but in a group they form an eclipse of stripes. Nature is very beautiful. This trip to Africa has endeared my heart towards nature and has shown me the spectacular creativity of God.
One of my favourite activities of 2024, was a meditation that Anne, my co- retreat facilitator ran in our overseas retreat in Bali, Indonesia.
She took us to a place of rest and contemplation. Asking us to imagine a safe place in a forrest. A place where we could rest and observe. As we took a moment to focus our imaginations on a place that bought us peace, she then led us in a creative meditation, where we imagined an animal.
She asked us “What animal comes to sit alongside you?” She spoke of an animal that had strength, one that was able to inspire us in this place of safety in our minds.
This moment became one I reflected on many times across the last few months of the year. I imagined a white tiger, she was female. She was strong, calm and present. I sat on the log in the forrest, I wasn’t afraid or concerned at all, with the animal sitting with me. The calming presence of this animal, was so comforting. I found strength in this safe place.
Anne facilitated a moment where we learnt from that animal and allowed our Spirit to use a metaphor to speak to our current situation. A learning, that we desired and needed. I needed strength. I needed to rest and be calm, to allow the moment to refuel me.
Across scripture, story tellers use metaphors of animals, mountains and nature to speak into our current circumstance. The psalms are a specific example of this. Moments where deers ask us to look to the mountains for their hind places of hope. Or the allegory of God as a lion, who roars through the earth, showing His majesty and Kingship.
Moments when birds are looked after by a God who sees. A talking donkey in the Old Testament, a snake tempts humanity and an eagle who shouts “woe, woe, woe” in the book of Revelation.
There is something powerful about nature mimicking the eternal and I can’t explain the transformation that happens to my inner ocean, when I sit and spend time observing the world around me.
Tell me in the comments linked above, have you ever had an encounter with an animal that has impacted you?
Creatively Yours,
