Awe and Wonder: The Earth Our Mother

Our energy bill for the month of February came today.  It was doubleNancy_Creek_by_Murphey_Candler_Park what it has been all winter.  Immediate shock ensued.

High energy bills in the coldest months of winter shouldn’t be a shock.  This one was a shock because we’ve spent almost all of winter with rather low energy bills.  That’s because our winter has been very mild.  We are living the reality of climate change, like it or not.  We became easily accustomed to lower energy bills BECAUSE the climate in which we live, which for most of my life produced four distinct georgia-105820_960_720seasons, seems to be sliding into two seasons:  the cooler one and the hotter one.  While there may be some natural changes that contribute to climate change on the earth–the living, breathing, moving life of the Earth our Mother–our human activities have seriously compromised Her ability to regulate the climate.  She is in full reaction to what we spew out without thought.  She is attempting to bring what we have done back into balance.

Balance is the setting for awe and wonder.  When thiMidtown_HDR_Atlantas Earth our Mother is in balance, doing what She does best, I live in a part of the world that creates a cold winter, a delightful burst of spring, a warm and luscious summer, and a blustery colorful fall.  That is the awe and wonder of living here, and it requires the Earth to be in Her balance.

I look at that energy bill again, and I understand that the sudden momentary burst of cost for a cold February (which was supposed to be a cold November, December, January and February) is a reminder of how out of balance we are, how close we are to removing from Perkerson_Park_Fall_Color_Atlanta,_GAour own experiences the awe and wonder of living here, in the space on this Earth our Mother.

Ironic, isn’t it?  That awe and wonder require the normal balance of things?

Bob Patrick

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