Gang, I first stepped into this work quite by accident, and then I started hearing the land speak, even when I did not have the words to describe what was going on. It was not Arthur or Megan who clued me in to the idea that land or landforms speak to us.
Rather, it was an old friend from college named Kristi, who told me and a group of then-friends that “the trees were speaking”. She was part of a ministry with which I was involved in on campus.
And so, beloved, what do you do when you think you hear the land and the trees and the mountains and the oceans speaking to you? What do you do when you fear the response of a church that may be so devoted to stoning those who hear creation speak.
Well, beloved, I invite you spirit to hear the following passage afresh and I ask your soul to step to the side as I speak to your spirit.
Spirit, listen to the word of G-d for you for today.
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Isaiah 55:12 ESV
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, ALL THE EARTH;
Psalm 98:5-8 ESV (emphasis mine)
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
The earth makes noise to the L-rd, spirit!. The various land forms speak in praise to the L-rd. And they are willing to speak to us, and hear from us. We are capable of hearing not only when the land is feeling good, but also when the land is feeling terrible and responds in reaction to the negative feeling:
“…and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”
from Leviticus 18:25
“…WE KNOW THAT THE WHOLE EARTH HAS BEEN GROANING together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
from Romans 8:22 ESV (emphasis mine)
Spirit, you are not crazy. Beloved you are not crazy. That thing you are hearing may be the creation speaking.
Beloved, I bless you in your capacity to hear when the creation speaks, both when it speaks in the positive and when it speaks in the negative.
Spirit, you aree permitted to speak to the land, and you are permitted to find out solutions to the problems of why the creation is having trouble. You are permitted to be and to do and to flow in every aspect of the fullness of who G-d made you to be.
I bless you, spirit to hear the emotions of various parcels of land. I bless your discernment to increase to the place where Father wants it to be. I bless you to know what the L-rd wants you to know about the land.
I bless those who are created to be ornithologists, and park rangers, and botanists, and agcriculturalists, and horticulturalists, and farmers, and ranchers. I bless you each to flow in your design. I bless the fullness of you, spirit, to come online and express itself in zeal in the professional pursuits for which you were made.
I bless you to interact with the land, and hear the land, and to work to whatever degree you were designed to work with the land.
Be at peace, spirit, in the name of Yeshua.