God's gentle messenger

A few years ago whilst playing guitar at an event in London called Kernow in the city our lead singer was sharing the story behind one of our bands songs. He shared about the challenges he has been through over the last year and how for some reason that year he had also notice an increase in butterfly’s which always lead him to an overwhelming experience of peace.

After sharing his story a member of the audience shouted out, “do you know the Cornish for butterfly is Tykki-Dyw, which means God’s gentle messenger.”

Throughout time most of humanity have noticed that when we interact with nature something special happens, a feeling can overcome us of reassurance, peace, awe, or even love. For the writer of a book in the Bible called the Psalms they describe it in this way “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Today we can easily walk amongst nature and be distracted by our phones, or even the stress of a post lockdown life. The advice from our medical professionals for dealing with that stress, found in the NHS’s 5 steps to wellbeing, is first of all to “take notice”, to stop and see what we already have.

Ever since we have been able to communicate we have been trying to put words to the beauty of nature and we have understood that it also offers us ways of healing through medicine, and of ways of coping with life’s difficulties.

The month of September in the Church calendar is called Creation Tide, and is a time when we reflect on the beauty of the world that God has given us, but also reflect on how we have, or have not, looked after it.

As we rebuild our new world after lockdown, let us consider what it means to put the things that really matter in life first. Let us challenge our current world view that says “the more we have the happier we are,” and realise that the more we take notice of what we already have around us the happier we will be.

​This month’s blog was written by Joff Phipps (Social Justice Missioner for ASH)