Oh LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!…
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
(Psalm 8:1, 3–4)
One of the favorite things about living South America was how much time we spent outdoors. Venezuela is literally one of the most beautiful countries anywhere just because of the different climates. It has everything: thousands of miles of tropical coastline, rain forests, Andean mountains, plains, jungle and even desert!
Because the temperature averages about 75 degrees most of the year, it really is like perpetual spring there. Flowers are everywhere. Poinsettias grow like trees. Bougainvillea can be seen covering the walls of houses. Hibiscus, bromeliads – the list goes on. But the best are the wild orchids in season.
Enjoy the outdoors
Windows are always open, so birds, birds, and more birds are heard! It’s easy to forget how beautiful and enjoyable it is until you go back and see it and hear it again. Standing at an open window or being outside to see and hear the parrots fly over makes me cry every time.
I love it, and I miss it. My time in Venezuela is probably why I love to be outside now. However, I do hate humidity, so that limits my summertime outside fun in the southeastern US; but in the spring and fall, there is nothing better than to just be outside. I love to eat at a restaurant under the umbrella on the patio or balcony. Sometimes I just take my snack or lunch to sit on the back steps of the university building where I teach.
The twentieth- and twenty-first-century practice of spending most of the day indoors would sound odd to our ancestors. Recent scientific studies however show that being in nature or just looking at pictures of nature can reduce stress and the physical results of stress.
Nature heals
A study by Roger Ulrich in 1984 found strong evidence that nature helps heal. Ulrich, a pioneer in the field of therapeutic environments found that patients recovering from gallbladder surgery who had a window view of trees had significantly shorter hospital stays, voiced fewer complaints, and took less pain medication, than those whose window view was a brick wall. This research builds on the work of Harvard naturalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson, who coined the term biophilia (love of living things). He believes that we have an affinity for nature because we are part of nature.
As a helpful resource, I have lots of articles on healthy ingredients and recipes that you can implement into your daily life.
If you’d like to dig deeper into my journey of discovering God’s plan for health and wellness, check out my book, Made For Paradise: God’s Original Plan for Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Rest.
