I remember from English Literature, especially these lines by William Wordsworth: The world is too much with us,; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers, Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!... For this to everything; we are out of tune; It moves us not!’

The Industrial Revolution began in the mid 1700s, and as it continued into the middle of the 1800s, Wordsworth resonates in this poem, how changing times were changing people’s appreciation for the values of Nature. Industry’s creations of ‘things’ to make life better—which quickly got out of hand—caused the rape of the beautiful hills and meadows in order to use millions of trees and mine for materials from the earth to manufacture all kinds of goods that people were being encouraged to believe they just can’t do without.

People began to notice that reparation of the land was ignored. The destruction greatly angered writers, who for centuries had and still were filling libraries with books that celebrated God’s beautiful countrysides, hills, and valleys. As we know this disrespect of the lands, forests, and oceans continues today all over the world.

Even in my own little world, I remembered when I inherited 34 acres to build a house, as newlyweds, James and I began improving the land where, for years, gravel and dirt had been taken away for road development and the like. We began brush-hogging and mowing acres of tall grasses. For years we plowed areas for vegetable gardens and began using rocks to create rock gardens and set out trees, bushes, and hundreds of irises and yuccas. We believed we were responsible for taking care of the land that God blessed us with.

On the acreage is a 10-acre beautiful, shady canyon with huge rocks around its edge. I believe earthquakes caused many boulders to fall down on the way to the canyon floor where a small spring meandered down through the canyon onto adjacent acres.

Envisioning a place to share with others, I worked for years to clean the area enough to one day welcome guests to come and enjoy the beauty, and like Wordsworth, to just get away from it all. Something happened when I’d sit atop a large rock and just listen to millions of leaves rustling, squirrels scurrying around, seeing deer at a distant, hearing birds singing, and, as evening approached, the sounds of crickets and frogs croaking. These sounds stirred my imagination to wonder what fun God had as He created for us all these fascinating bits of Nature to enjoy and learn from.

We sold the canyon to a distant niece, so it’s still in the family but not used as it was. And, later as James passed, I sold the rest of the home place to purchase a small place in town, because I couldn’t keep up its care like, I thank God, the new owners are doing.

I’ve always felt closer to God as I tended to His glorious creations. Even though today, I’m not able to do much of that kind of work, I know that I can go to a park, or to one of several beautiful lakes around Seminole and Wewoka, and admire the views. Proof of His creation is still everywhere in every blade of grass, every flower, every precious animal, every sunset, and in every person.

Yes, even though so much is going on in our world today that concerns us, there is Good News. According to the Bible, these global occurrences had been prophesied for over 2,000 years. We can turn it to learn more about it, and our concerns can be comforted when we learn that God is still with us. He still loves us. If we just believe in God and His Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for all of our sins and rose again and went to heaven, then we will one day go to Heaven to be be with Him when He comes again for us. We have to repent and ask to be forgiven. That’s it!

What can we doing about this? We can attend a Bible-believing church to continue learning about God’s love. We can reach out and care about those who are hurting and need to know we care, just like Jesus did while on earth. He is our Guide. Our only hope.