Wendell Berry is like grit for my fingernails, a writer who helps me breathe in the thickness of life.
In his stunning essay, “Contempt for Small Places,” this farmer with a prophetic bent writes:
“The health of the oceans depends on the health of rivers; the health of rivers depends on the health of small streams: the health of small streams depends on the health of their watersheds.
The health of water is exactly the same as the health of the land; the health of the small places is exactly the same as the health of the large places...
We cannot immunize the continents and the oceans against our contempt for small places and small streams. Small destructions add up, and finally they are understood collectively as large destructions..."
Is Berry reflecting on the land or the state of our souls?
These words have been haunting me over the last few weeks.
The small places matter.
The corners of our souls.
The clefts of our desires.
The crevices of our hearts.
One of the reasons Berry’s words haunt me is that his words don’t sound too different from the teachings of Christ.
Jesus readily drew on the agrarian world in order to open eyes’ to the kingdom of God.
Sparrows falling from the sky. The fruit of the fig tree. The fields ripe with harvest.
All but the Gospel of John record Jesus’ words:
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world but lose your own soul? (Matthew 16:22, Mark 8:36, Luke 9:25)
Whenever the big out shadows the small, we can lose it all.
What if we began paying more attention to the small places in our lives? What if we began looking to the truths God has packed into creation to reveal the state of our souls?
On June 1st, we’re launching this summer’s online Bible study to answer these kinds of questions.
Scouting the Divine is designed to take you on a romp throughout the agrarian world of the Bible—to spend time with shepherds, beekeepers, vintners, and farmers—in order to rediscover the importance of tending to the small places in our spiritual lives.
To join the Summer Bible Study, pick up the Scouting the Divine Bible Study DVD Kit from MargaretFeinbergStore.com ($74.95). Each kit includes:
- One copy of Scouting the Divine in hardback (regularly $16.99)
- One copy of Scouting the Divine participant’s guide member workbook(regularly $9.95)
- One set of Scouting the Divine DVD + interactive CD (regularly $59.99)
As an added bonus, we are offering a 20% discount off our summer study when you enter coupon code: ScoutingSummer upon check out at MargaretFeinbergStore.com—that’s a savings of $14.99!
Pick up your Scouting the Divine DVD Kit today and begin asking God to prepare your heart for what’s in store this summer. We'll be gathering together each week here at MargaretFeinberg.com starting June 1st to discuss, pray for one another, and dive into God's Word.
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The post How Much Do Small Places Matter? Wendell Berry Weighs In appeared first on Margaret Feinberg.