Harmony
The humble worm has been on my mind this week. I’ve noticed them appear above ground after spring storms, watched them burrow through the garden, seen Lowly Worm from Richard Scarry's Busytown on the television after naptime, and finally found myself painting them for Oliver’s mud kitchen.
Worms are a wonderful example of harmony, particularly harmony with nature. Here is a creature living in perfect symbiosis with the soil. It finds purpose in the very work that sustains it. What it consumes is returned to the earth richer than before. Its environment complements its design, just as God intended.
And despite its simple, soft-bodied form, the worm fundamentally supports life itself. Without healthy soil, we would not be here. This slimy little creature should be an inspiration to us all.
The other evening, Ted and I talked on a walk about how disconnected modern civilization has become from nature, and from the conditions that actually help us thrive. People today are a lot like worms disoriented by the downpour of a storm, stranded on hot asphalt and slowly baking in the sun.
Some remain unaware that the environment surrounding them is harmful. Others squirm desperately back toward the soil, toward something more natural and life-giving, though the journey becomes harder the farther we drift. Meanwhile, our lives become worm bait for the “machine,” sacrificed to systems that consume our time and energy while giving little in return.
It is certainly a strange and interesting time to be alive. Still, I have hope that humanity, despite our collective brokenness, will find refuge in the soil again.
