Spiritual symbolism in nature | Weekly Notes (march 2, 2026 - march 6, 2026)

 Monday

I am back on my Dunkin coffee grind, no pun intended. I've been alternating between the blueberry butter pecan and caramel iced coffees. I like that they offer decaf. But I seriously need to find a cold brew or premade iced coffee that I love that I can make at home. I have this cold brew / iced coffee maker but the functionality of it isn't the best. I have tried the Bizzy decaf cold brew and I do enjoy it, it's just not something I crave every day. But maybe the key is making coffee the traditional way, letting it cool and then making an iced coffee. I mean, it isn't immediate, but maybe that's the point. 

Today I sat on the patio and just observed. I noticed a baby blue bird flailing in between two trees, going back and forth. It was only a blip in time, but it stopped me in my tracks. It made me reflect on my own circumstances and how I feel like I'm leaving the safety of one nest (all I've known), to explore the world before me (my new endeavors). I'm one to find symbolism in nature and look to it as an extension of God. I was up late at night, trying to figure out what certain things could mean, researching what they symbolized spiritually, culturally, life purpose wise, and I stopped myself. I had only allowed myself to briefly reflect on this circumstance before I turned to the internet for its opinion. Of course it was interesting to learn about different concepts and symbolism, the internet is amazing for that, but I also want to allow myself to reflect on these things more before doing so. 

I also started thinking about the concept of how this could relate to God or negate God. Because from my understanding, the bible warns against seeking answers and I was trying to understand where that begins and ends in this context. I am a believer that God has a plan for me and that there is purpose in everything, and I know I will never understand everything. But I also believe that nature is divine, we are part of nature, and it often reflects ourselves. So that's been on my mind, definitely an interesting concept I want to learn more about.

Tuesday

We woke up early to try to see the blood moon. I assumed we'd be able to see the entire event, but I literally only saw the moon for about one minute before it disappeared. I spent most of the day wrapping up projects: my February zine issue and a song I've been working on for months. I also sat down and did some planning to create some more structured rhythms throughout my day and week. I have goals in a variety of areas that I want to start prioritizing more and I've carved out specific times in the day and week to make time for them.

Wednesday

I spent most of the day researching the connection between God and nature and how that relates to Mondays circumstance. Some core things I wrote down include:

• seeing the world as an expression of who God is
• nature speaks about Gods power and beauty
• that it's important we worship the artist Himself, not the work of art
• how we can look to the animals and understand that if God can take care of details like that, He can take care of us
• that we can look to nature for wisdom, and ask the question "what does this tell me about God?" rather than "what does this tell me about my next steps?"

I also read about how attention is a sacrifice with how you use your time and focus. This deeply resonated with me as I'm trying to slow down even more in life and be more intentional with where I put my attention. Another concept that stood out to me was shifting your mindset from trying to discover a specific destination for yourself and rather focus on your identity as a child of God. There's so much more I can include, but I'm definitely going to share a separate blog post, and probably a few on this concept. But I would like to share some verses I came across that stood out to me related to the idea of searching for answers and understanding.

• Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)
• The story of Martha and Mary where Mary is just being while Martha worries about all of the things she needs to get done. (luke 10:41-42)

These verses cover two core concepts I was reading about: just being and how God always provides the next steps, and how you don't need a whole map. I feel like most of us are always searching for that map and want the big picture understanding before the journey begins. This can definitely be the case if you are a planner or you are in a certain stage of life where you're asking the big questions: "what is my purpose?" or "what should I do with my gifts?". 

Thursday

I'm sitting on the patio writing my blurb for Wednesday and I hear a christian song out of nowhere. It was an Amazon driver that had just pulled up blasting music. I believe it was the song Made for More by Josh Baldwin. This song came into reach when I pulled up my document from yesterday where I took 4 pages of notes on nature and God. It was what some people call, a "God wink".

I was thinking on the idea of a podcast again, but felt like it should be different than what I was doing before. I've tried podcasting numerous times and have liked the concepts or structures I've come up with, but I realized it just kind of emulated what I wanted my writing to be, or it would be a script of something I wrote. I'm discovering I don't really like to explain, unless it's in writing, and I'd rather just share something in an observational way or create art when it comes to other platforms. I want my writing to be my writing and everything else to be an extension of that, rather than use all of my creative energy in explaining or scripting when I could just be pouring that into my writing. So, I'm trying something very new to me - auditory witnessing. Instead of a traditional podcast where it's conversational or I'm diving into a concept, I'm just going to be sharing short clips where I am describing something I am seeing. This embodies the concept of slowing down and noticing the beautiful mundane things around you. At first I was hesitant to try this because I was worried about background noises, but quickly realized, that is the whole point. There is always going to be a distraction, something vying for our attention, the world will keep spinning, but will you still pause?

I already have two episodes up as of now, and I'm excited to embrace this new art form.

Friday

I've been going back and forth with if I want to have short form social media again but with boundaries. There's always going to be a reason it can be beneficial, because if you look for a reason, you will find it. But the question is, do the cons outweigh the pros? I was thinking of using it more as a landing page to drive traffic to my blog or long form content. I also felt that the message I am creating around - slow down and notice - is probably most important in the fast paced spaces of this world. But then I would just be continuing the cycle by contributing to a space I don't really align with anymore. When I was feeling the pull to slow down and delete social media, I easily found creators and other people who were expressing the same thing through a quick search online. So that isn't reason enough for me. Yet, I sit here and think - is that just an excuse? To avoid the uncomfortable? I could share more static posts there like one singular photo or a long caption to stop the scroll, but at what cost? I have had more creative inspiration since stepping away from short form social media than I have had in awhile. I felt like I was in a rut creatively, and it makes sense, there was so much noise and "inspiration". But now, my work feels even deeper. It doesn't feel performative or surface level. So as of now, I'm sticking to no short form social media.