A few weeks ago, I shared passages and quotes about creation spirituality, how the majesty of creation can cause us to turn to God in worship. However, creation doesn’t stop where our city streets begin or our front doors close; we are always within creation. Therefore, creation spirituality is for our everyday lives as well, a practice known as hearthside spirituality. This aligns with scripture, most of which is concerned with our workaday lives. What does it mean to you to think of your everyday life as within creation?
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
Genesis 2:15, NASB
4 “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 8 You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead.
Deuteronomy 6:4-8, NASB
Know well the condition of your flocks,
And pay attention to your herds;
24 For riches are not forever,
Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
25 When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
26 The lambs will be for your clothing,
And the goats will bring the price of a field,
27 And there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,
For the food of your household,
And sustenance for your attendants.Proverbs 27:23-27, NASB
31 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a person took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all the other seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31-32, NASB
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people,24 knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
Colossians 3:23-24, NASB
In her book, Liturgy of the Ordinary1, Tish Harrison Warren discusses what faith looks like daily. She focuses on how small moments—making your bed, fighting with your spouse, checking email—can remind us to turn to God. She draws a line between big worship and daily worship, and I want to draw a parallel line between mountaintop creation spirituality and hearthside creation spirituality.
I still imagine “meeting God” in a silent place, preferably outdoors by the ocean or a still pond, or in a cathedral with stained glass, with my Bible and journal and hours of stillness. That’s how I prefer God to meet me, not through a “ministry of competence” in checking my email. This longing for a contemplative ideal can be a particular burden for me as a young mom, in a home that is typically loud, active sleepless, and filled with unending requests and needs. I need a third way—neither frantic activity nor escape from the workaday world, a way of working that is shaped by being blessed and sent.
— Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary
God is in the stillness of the mountaintop, but he is also in the busyness of my kitchen as I take veggies and meat and turn them into nourishing, delicious food for my family. He is there as I rearrange furniture, hang artwork, and bring my own creative touch to making a home from this piece of creation for which I am responsible. He is with me as I shop at the secondhand kids’ clothing store, looking to clothe my daughter with minimal impact on the earth. God is present as I care for other members of creation, whether watering my potted plants or pruning a tree in the front yard. As I sit by my earth-molded hearth, wooden floor under my feet, God is with me. What parts of daily creation remind you to turn to God?
Liturgy of the Ordinary. Tish Harrison Warren. 2016.
Cooking and eating nourishing food. And, creating art which I heard Rainn Wilson say that in Bahai faith, it is akin to prayer. Lovely reflection, Sara. Thank you for sharing!