Teach Me

Psalm 90:1-12

Psalm 90:1-12 (NRSV):

1 God, you have been our dwelling place

    in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth

    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn us back to dust

    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

4 For a thousand years in your sight

    are like yesterday when it is past

    or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,

    like grass that is renewed in the morning;

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

    in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are consumed by your anger;

    by your wrath we are overwhelmed.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,

    our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;

    our years come to an end like a sigh.

10 The days of our life are seventy years

    or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;

even then their span is only toil and trouble;

    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who considers the power of your anger?

    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

12 So teach us to count our days

    that we may gain a wise heart.

Queries:

How does God meet us in nature? 

What have I learned from plants and animals?

What is my responsibility to our ancestors and to our descendents?

How can I practice reverence for the land and its many inhabitants?

What does it mean, for me, to accept my impermanence?

Books Referenced/Recommended (with links):

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants 

Patty Krawec,Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future

Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate

Randy Woodley, Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth