Mid-week Inspiration,                                                             

Spring has really arrived in the Okanagan and one of my greatest joys has returned with it.  I love to get up early, sit outside on my deck, meditate and watch the creek go by.  I love to watch the play of birds on the creek and in the wilderness around it.  I love to see the combined growth of domestic and wilderness wonder.  The tulips blooming in the garden and the sweet yellow flowers of the Oregon grape cascading down to the waters edge; all is alive with the wonder of spring, of new birth and awakening.

‘Wonder’ you ask?  Absolutely, clean water is one of the rarest commodities in the world; we have it yet in abundance.

We live in paradise and we all know it.  We live in a beautiful valley with our town centered equi-distant from three beautiful lakes barely a stones throw from downtown.  Serious development on these lakes is quite recent.  This alone makes Vernon unique; cities the world over build upon the shores of waters with parks and docks; industry and serenity hand in hand.  Here in Vernon we have built in a beautiful valley, upon a series of meandering creeks, leaving our lakeshore access for all until quite recently.

What a picturesque image; unfortunately the reality is not necessarily so picturesque.  Most of the creek from Swan Lake to Okanagan Lake has been built over with concrete and put into culverts.  Much of it has become the property line for light industry and is over grown with weeds and trash that has found anchorage.  Very little of our town creek fronts have available walkways and trails for the public. 

Thankfully this is not the end of the story; things are changing here in Vernon.  We are becoming more aware of our environment and the need to clean it up.  As the lakefront becomes bought up and privately owned our creek-ways become more valuable to the public and more attention is going to them. 

So what does this have to do with faith and religion?  Everything!  The least part of religion is the good book we read.  By far more important is how we live the principles that we read; how we put into practice the teachings.  Give me a person who truly practices the compassion, forgiveness, non-judgment and love of the master Jesus and I profess I would not hesitate to have him or her as my teacher before all the teachings of all the great religions.

It is important to remember how much of our connection to God and our own spirituality comes through nature.  The whole Franciscan order is founded on a connection with nature.  Nature is a cornerstone of every religion; this City as a whole is very religious. Our creeks are part of our stewardship.  To imagine that we would remain ignorant to the state of our environment does not resonate with a spiritual community.  

Today is a good day to recognize the needs of our environment, today is a good day to actively practice spirituality and pick up a piece of trash.  It is a good day for us to be the change we seek in our politicians, corporations and neighbours.  Today is our day.

Blessings,