How Great Thou Art...

Oh Lord, my God,

When I, in awesome wonder,

Consider all the works

Thy hands have made.

I see the stars,

I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout

The universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,

My Savior, God, to Thee.

How great thou art,

How great thou art. 

He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. 

-Psalm 147:4

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

-Psalm 19:1

For by Him all things were created... and in Him all things hold together. 

-Colossians 1:16-17

*This painting was done in acrylic on canvas.*

My Nature Journal

Hello everyone! I think it is finally time that I give you a post about my nature notebook. I have been writing a series of posts about my journals (both for school and private use) and this notebook is highly deserving to be mentioned. 

My nature journal is probably one of the most difficult (and yet most rewarding!) journals that I have ever attempted. Why? Because it is a mixture of art and poetry, journaling and sketching, observing and copying, personalization and exact duplication. My nature journal is really quite unique from all other journals. 

Though this book is scheduled on my school checklist, I can do it whenever I want, and it is not restricted to school hours. This means that I can take this journal camping, to the woods, hiking, or wherever else I might be inspired to use it. That factor really makes my nature journal unique and diverse. 

So, what is a nature journal? Well, I think the best way to explain that to you is to tell you about a nature walk that I might take. During my nature walk, I keep on the lookout for a bird, animal, plant, insect, or any other living thing that is beautiful and that I want to remember. When I find it, I sketch the specimen in my journal and take the journal and specimen (if possible! If it is something like a bird or tree that I can't take home, I take a picture of it) back up to the house and finish drawing it with watercolors, colored pencils, and other art tools. While at the house, I look up (either in a field guide or on wikipedia) information about the specimen and write it down in my notebook. Sometimes I put a note about the day's weather the nature walk that I took. 

As you can imagine, between observing, sketching, drawing, learning, writing, and journaling, the information really sticks with you. Not only this, but you have a beautiful and special journal that holds memories and information that is interesting and helpful. A nature notebook really helps you appreciate the awesomeness of God's creation, and how vast his works are. Job 12:7-12 says:

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." How true this is! As we learn more about God's creation, we learn more about Him. That is the purpose of a nature journal.

So, how do you start your own nature journal? Well, all you need is a notebook, a pencil, and some inspiration. However, as you become better at journaling, and you spend more and more time doing it, chances are you will want to step up your game. I use this travelogue journal and these  Koi Watercolor brushes when journaling. Once you have your supplies, you are all set, and all you have to do is begin!

Though a little daunting at first, a nature notebook is very rewarding, and, once started, hard to put down. They truly bring satisfaction to the author, and are a useful tool that can be shown to others to help them in identification and inspiring them to make their own nature journal!

Resources that may help you:

https://bryanajohnson.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/june21journal.jpg

This is a picture of one of my good friend's nature journal page. Check out her blog for other beautiful drawings!

http://www.wildlifenorthamerica.com/index.html

This is a handy website that has an extensive list of animals in North America. Good for identification.

http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/

This website has tons of information about wildflowers in North America. Very helpful and detailed. 

https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species

On this website, you can find a very concise list of the birds (listed by species) that live in North America. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMuirLaws

This man has some very helpful videos on nature journaling. Take a look at his website for more!

J.R.R. Tolkien and Fairy Stories

Hey everyone! Recently, I was flipping through a home-school magazine that we had received in the mail, when I came upon an article titled "How J.R.R. Tolkien Used Middle Earth to Reveal Who we Are". I was intrigued by the title, (hey, if that doesn't pique a Tolkien lover's curiosity, I don't know what does!) so I read through it. It was very insightful! One of my favorite sections (and the one that really sums up the article best) was probably this one:

"In his famous essay on fairy stories, J. R. R. Tolkien asserted that one of the most important facets of fairytales is that they hold up a “Mirror of scorn and pity towards Man”. The fairy story, Tolkien wrote, “may be used as a Mirour de l’Omme” (mirror of man), as something that shows us ourselves. If this is so, and it is, it means that the greatest fairy stories are not mere fantasies that serve as a flight from reality but are a powerful means by which we can see ourselves and others more clearly. In this sense, and paradoxically, the greatest fairy stories are also works of realism. They show us reality."

You can read the full article here

(Yup, that one made it to the commonplace book!)

What an amazing observation! I am in total agreement with it. I think that, many times, fairy tales are "set aside" for little kids who need to be entertained, instead of appreciated for what they are- stories that reflect us and our mistakes and this world.

After reading the article, I looked up the essay mentioned (which you can read here) and read it through. In it, Tolkien attempts to explain fairy stories and what they mean to us. He explains what a fairy story is not in this quote:

"Stories that are actually concerned primarily with “fairies,” that is with creatures that might also in modern English be called “elves,” are relatively rare, and as a rule not very interesting. Most good “fairy-stories” are about the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches. Naturally so; for if elves are true, and really exist independently of our tales about them, then this also is certainly true: elves are not primarily concerned with us, nor we with them. Our fates are sundered, and our paths seldom meet. Even upon the borders of Faërie we encounter them only at some chance crossing of the ways."

Then what is fantasy? What is it about?

"To make a Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible, commanding Secondary Belief, will probably require labour and thought, and will certainly demand a special skill, a kind of elvish craft. Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they are attempted and in any degree accomplished then we have a rare achievement of Art: indeed narrative art, storymaking in its primary and most potent mode."

And why do we read fairy stories?

Well, Tokien gives a few reasons. I will focus on two. One of them, he says, is an escape from reality, a place where we can go to forget our troubles. But the second reason is that it holds a mirror up to our lives (as Joseph Pearce says) and shows us the end. 

"Fairy tale does not deny the existence of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat...giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy; Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief."

If this is true, than fairy stories reflect our fight, the Good Fight. More than this, they show us that we will win, and that despite our grief on this earth, there is joy, and one day, we will be united with Him. That is true joy. That is the real purpose of fairy stories. 

I really enjoyed this essay, and its insights into Christianity, fairy stories, and how they correlate, and I think that I will definitely be reading it again soon (it was a lot to take in :).



My favorite quotes from the essay:

Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.

It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “turn” comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.