Nature's Abundance

Last weekend we took a long-awaited road trip out to Stanthorpe to celebrate with friends the purchase of their new property in the locality. It was a warm & lovely reconnection. And what thrilled me to my core was seeing the landscape and how it had burst into fertile abundance with the recent rains. The prolific birdlife was accented by the blatantly outrageous behaviour of flocks of birds living and loving every moment of existence – screeches and swoops and graceful arcs of flight as they revealed in the abundance of food, foliage and fecundity abounding in the environment.

Wildflowers

Bursts of colour through the bushland

On the ground, grasses and wildflowers clothed the vales and hills with a richness so textured that I longed to roll and play in its lavishness – bursts of feathered grass, spikes of seeded reeds, clovers, button grass, tiny purple angel’s wings, miniature daisy whorls, bold egg & bacon swaying in the light sylvan breezes and audacious dandelions nodding vigorously to one another. Clumps of trees, resplendent with profuse foliage, created shady oases for the plentiful wildlife with many in flower, creating a canopy of colour. Kangaroos lay belly deep in the shade while others lazily loped across the landscape. Groups of little black-faced rock wallabies sat still keenly sniffing the delicately perfumed air. While the plentiful full-to-overflowing dams dazzled like jewels in the sunlight, giving off sparks of light that seemed like little fairy-folk were hovering over the panorama, adding to the magic.

I felt so grateful and blessed to be enjoying the benefits of the life-enhancing rains, while at the same time, I was so aware of those who were robbed, in 2022, by the excess of water, with heart-breaking devastation of their homes, their incomes and their propensity to benefit, with joy & delight, from the unseasonal abundance.

This year has been, for many, one about coming to terms with the rapid and unfamiliar changes in our standard yearly seasonal procession, brought about by climate change. There is no doubt that we are feeling the global effects of transformation on a global scale – areas of the planet once amenable to productive and easy existence are morphing very quickly into inhospitable and uninhabitable zones. There is no exception – no stone unturned as Mother Earth flexes her mighty, natural-force muscles in response to the unconscious behemoth of human development that has occurred in absence of a cooperative partnership with Her.

2022 has been a year that has brought tragedy for some and bounty for others. The floods and natural disasters, while shattering the lives of some, has served to bring about a cleansing for others. Post pandemic destruction of life-style, business and comfort zones for some, has been the fertile ground for new enterprise, reframing relationships and setting new goals in the experience of others.

Moving through cataclysmic change is never easy, regardless of the outcome. It can be chaotic, tumultuous and confusing, leaving a messy trail in its wake. But it can also provide the opportunity to reframe, reclaim, refresh, regenerate and revitalize. As we all adjust to the changes brought about in 2022, my most profound wish is that each and every one of us can reach in deep to reignite the spark of restoration and renewal, through acceptance and letting go, as we move forward into 2023. And nature is certainly showing us how to go & grow with the flow and embrace change as a healing gift.