Children and Water

This week my oldest grand-daughter turned nine. She was very excited about the bike she got from her parents, the notebook she got from her brother and the seashell souvenir I send her every year to mark her birthday.

I love exploring with her the tidal pools on the rocky shoreline near her home on the Atlantic coast. As an artist she loves the colors; as a story-teller she can imagine the drama of the snails and mollusks and other creatures competing or cooperating in their tiny biomes only inches across.

The Discipline of Compassion

Before I get to today’s theme … here is this week’s exciting news. After three long years in the writing, revising, editing and publication stages, the soft-cover proof copy of Downstream from Eden finally arrived at my door.

With some visiting friends and family, Tiffany and I celebrated with champagne and a prayer of thanksgiving. After a quick inspection I gave the green light to the publishers, and in a few short days both hard-cover and paperback editions will be available from this site. Watch for exact details.

For those who can’t wait, the e-book version is already available on Kindle, fractionally priced at $3.99 which is less than a penny a page, or even better at $3.49 from Kobo Books.

Now, for today’s theme from my list of disciplines for living in the most fully human way in our less-than perfect world --

“The Discipline of Compassion”

There’s a lot of pain in our world – and tears give that pain a poignant human face. Tears are perhaps the most exquisite form of water in the world – tears of suffering or loneliness, tears of grief or lament, tears of sympathy or of regret. And the frequency of tears in the Bible is a clarion call to compassion.

The Discipline of Seeking Justice

In the past several posts, I have explored five disciplines for living richly and creatively in our less-than-perfect world. Here is #6 . . .

the discipline of seeking justice.

Despite the intrinsic beauty and joy of our world, nations and societies are rife with injustice. The clever and the powerful have always been adept at seeking their own advantage even at the expense of the poor and the weak.

But one of the foundational stories of our culture asserts that we are inextricably inter-dependent and that each of us is our brother's and sister's keeper. Ignoring the welfare of others is not an option. Living ethically in our downstream-from-Eden world means seeking justice not just for ourselves, but also for our neighbors.

The Discipline of Community

Prospective Cover

I haven’t been blogging lately – instead, I’ve been furiously proof-reading the publisher's galleys of my book – which I hope will be in your hands by the end of May. Keep your eyes on this site for the details as soon as they’re available.

But today I want to resume the series I started back in March – Ten Disciplines for Living Downstream from Eden – principles for living creatively in our less-than-perfect world. These disciplines are ways to respond not just to the gift of water – but to all the lavish natural resources of the created world.

The discipline of reverence, worship and awe and the discipline of gratitude orient us to God as our Creator and Provider. The discipline of responsive stewardship orients us to both God and the earth – to our physical and spiritual environments. The discipline of generosity opens our hearts and hands and minds in response to all we’ve been given.

The Discipline of Generosity

Two previous posts - on Gratitude and on Stewardship - lead to today's on the discipline of generosity. Generosity flows out of a glad heart, a world-view of abundance, and trust in God’s providence rather than the fear of scarcity and a spirit of greed.

Generosity is the responsive overflow of people who have experienced the goodness and extravagance of God.

The Discipline of Responsive Stewardship

This week my wife and I saw the movie 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen', an improbable story that can still reel you in. It’s romantic comedy and political satire, not an environmental film, but one of the sub-plots contrasts a vision for developing a barren landscape against antagonists who would rather destroy the environment to advance their political ends. The downstream results are devastating (though, since the film is a comedy, not ultimately terminal).

That’s a light-hearted backdrop for the weighty and timely theme of ecological stewardship. In previous posts we’ve looked at two important disciplines for living joyfully and responsively in our flawed but wonderful world: the discipline of reverence, worship and awe and the discipline of gratitude. These disciplines focus our outlook and attitude towards creation and instill a sense of wonder and privilege. The discipline that I want to highlight in this post is

The Discipline of Gratitude

Today is World Water Day – a United Nations celebration of the vital importance of water for our lives and for the planet.

Here’s a quote from my upcoming book Downstream from Eden:

"Biologically, our bodies are about 60% water; newborns are closer to 75% but by their first birthday, they’re down to about 65%. Our brains stay around the mid-70’s and blood is 83% water. Every cell in our body contains water and every cell membrane has a meticulous arrangement for allowing water in and keeping it out so cells don’t just disintegrate. Water is the crucial mechanism for transporting nutrients to our cells and shipping away the waste."