Each day every one of our lives is filled with happenings and activities and news and drama. We are curious people. We are engaged and active. We make things. Invent things. Do things. We create roads and cities in the wilderness. We make beautiful art and music. We send vehicles into space. We have incredible capabilities. We are just a little less than gods, the Bible tells us.
Ah, but sometimes our ideas and plans get away from us. This is why we have global warming. And war. The possibilities, the greed. But no worries. We’ll figure a way out of it, so some think. We have amazing capabilities.
Maybe there is something to be said for accepting our humble place in the scheme of things on Earth. Taking pleasure in the world around us, the wonders of nature, our mortality, the cycle of life. Instead of trying to remake the Earth to our desires, we could learn to accept the Earth and all that it is giving us. All that we are receiving.
in Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital, we are reminded: “We think we’re the wind, but we’re just the leaf.” [p. 161] Now a leaf does not have much initiative or agency. It is limited by its function and identity. But a leaf provides oxygen for us to breathe so that we can stay alive. It keeps the tree alive to provide not only oxygen but food for people and animals. A leaf is part of creating a habitat for animal dwellings. A leaf creates beauty when it changes color. A leaf provides shade. A leaf falls to the ground and decomposes making soil for other plants to grow.
“We think we’re the wind, but we’re just the leaf.” A leaf is useful providing sustenance and comfort and safety as well as beauty. Can we be content with being a leaf? Realizing our limits. Restraining our hubris. Extending ourselves for the benefit of others. Accepting what we are called to do and be?
Prayer: May we be content to be who we were created to be in a much larger scheme that extends beyond our planet to the cosmos. May we be grateful for our brief span on this Earth and relish our place in the circle of life. Amen.
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Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL
The devotions this Lenten season will be based on the novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Orbital won the Booker Prize in 2024. It is a beautifully written story about the experience of a group of people orbiting the Earth in a spaceship. They see 16 sunrises and sunsets in a 24 hour period. The book is a reflection on the experience of living together and appreciating planet Earth in a new way.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 