Naturally (08/12/2025)

Yesterday, as I was writing in my journal created by my daughter, the page had artwork on Mother Nature’s Way. It made me think of the current push for natural remedies and approaches to problems that arise. And as I started to think about “natural” – my mind went way back to the word’s origin – naturalis – Latin word meaning “by birth.” And it hit me, “by birth” – it’s all about relationships.

Truly, it is all about relationships. We are because of the LORD! We come into existence in relationship to our Almighty Father. By birth, we begin our relationship with our earthly parents and family. In life, we come to encounter and come to know our Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us even before we took a breath and who gave His life for us even though He knew we would sin. Our lives begin in relationship and will only thrive in relationship, in right relationship with our loving LORD and with one another. That’s natural.

And then I thought of our modern world. I recall hearing on the television this past week that the majority of our young people’s time is spent interacting/interfacing with a screen, not another, not the LORD. And my fear was compounded by the commentator mentioning that many teens consider AI and Chatbot to be their “friend” and companion. This is not “natural” even though the young feel they have a relationship. And we need to be aware of that.

In this day and age when “natural” is being suggested for the way we eat, the way we clean, the way we power our world, isn’t it time we considered what is spiritually and humanly natural – true and loving relationships with our LORD and one another. These are the foundation of our existence. These are our origin. These represent our destination – Love itself. Let us seek to develop that which we innately crave – true relationships, loving relationships with our LORD and one another. Let’s turn away from our screens to the persons around us.

This week, I will make real efforts to truly and meaningfully engage others around me. This week, I will make a real effort to reach out to loved ones far away through phone calls and real, handmade greeting cards sent through the mail. This week, I will try to meet new people whom the LORD providentially brought into my neighborhood, intersecting our paths. And this week, I will make an effort to better understand the people of the world who unfortunately are “foreign” to me when they are actually my sisters and brothers.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.