“We must recognize that we’re all a part of a web of life around the world.  Anytime you extinguish a species, the consequences are serious.”

— Gaylord Nelson

Yesterday, I spoke about matching your heartbeat to the heartbeat of the universe.  I spoke of the way that the heart of each created being adds its own rhythm to the rhythm of life.  I spoke of the way that all those separate heartbeats combine to become the heartbeat of Creation.

With this in mind, I took off for my daily walk through the miracle of Creation.  The summer world is fully alive now in Pennsylvania.  The weed-flowers bloom and die and drop their seeds in an endless cycle.  The tiny bugs have begun to appear again.  Wasps hover near the arbor and look for food in its wood.  I thought of all the beauty of the earth and then I thought of the way we judge some things as beautiful and others as a nuisance.  I thought of the way that we need all things created in order for the true beauty — the order of the universe — to show itself.

The Beauty of Creation does not lie in a particular color of a particular flower petal.  It does not lie more in a spectacular sunrise than in the gathering clouds that spew lightning and thunder before a mighty storm.  It does not lie more in a butterfly than in a gnat; or more in a colorful bird than in the squealing bat.  What is beautiful is the way it all is woven together.  We call it the Web of Life, but sometimes we act as though a particular thread is less important or less desirable than another.  Don MacLean said it beautifully in his somewhat accusatory song, Tapestry:

“Every fish that swims silent, every bird that flies freely, every doe that steps softly, every crisp leaf that falls, all the flowers that grow on this colorful tapestry, somehow they know that if Man is allowed to destroy all we need, he will soon have to pay with his life for his greed.”

We are the keepers of the Earth.  We are the stewards of the Web of Life.  We must remember the absolute necessity of every single strand that makes up that beautiful web and walk gently.  Charles Dickens said it so well:

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this:  that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”

Walk softly and gently today.  Do not be deterred from constructing what you will for your life; but be careful not to destroy something that was loved into being.