Nature is a seductress. And a good one. She knows her power but has no need to force herself upon you. She makes you think this little affair is your idea, that you made the first move. Somehow you can’t remember when she first caught your eye. She was just somehow there. And all you knew was that being with her felt fabulous.
You lay on the grass, she held you. You wondered at the stars, she mesmerized you. You splashed in the waves, she frolicked with you. Her breezes softened your tension. Her icy gusts slapped you awake.
She wasn’t always gentle. Nature made you stand up and take notice. Pay attention. She could be a formidable adversary to challenge your mettle, to draw out from you your best. But all along, no matter what she dished out, her tender comfort was like a balm to you.
Often you were distracted, forgetting her altogether. You could hide out in your mind, but she was there, too, of course. Or hang out on your screens, but she would wait.
It was easy to think of her as “other.” And not all that important, really. Not like your plans or creations. You thought they were all yours. Only she knew better.
You could come back to her whenever you wanted. Climb her hills, dip into her waters, soak in her rays. She let you think it was your choice, the tip of your hat to her beauty. Thank you, Ma’am.
It was only when you began to take notice, to see her for who she really is, in her full majesty – to feel her subtle allure and stand in awe of her seemingly simple presence – that she began to more fully reveal her mystery to you. Only as you took her in your arms and heart, confessing your love through devotion and reverence, did she bless you with her fuller flowering.
Then the panic set in. This might mean you’d lose your freedom. Be forced to concede your dependence. Yield to a closeness that could leave you naked and defenseless. Relinquish your hard won control. Surrender to an unnerving vulnerability that incited peoples before you to worship her. Where would your precious independence be then?
Ah, well…as with any love affair, there’s always the push and pull. When love is this deep, it’s unsettling. You succumb, only to retract again, afraid to lose yourself. Within her constant holding, it’s too easy to grow complacent. Easy to neglect her. You will abandon her again and again, lose touch with her rare beauty, so available is she to you.
Only when the void becomes too unbearable do you return, confessing, in wonder that you could have forsaken such intimacy for the shiny trinkets that caught your eye.
So let your life be this dance with Nature.
Be tempted to fall deeper into her love.
Offer yourself up for a lifetime of entrancement. Why hold back? You know she wants you.
Give yourself to her magnetism.
Let yourself be seduced by the delicate touch of her breath, drawn in by her bird song, entranced by her honeysuckle scent.
Indulge yourself in her innumerable delights.
Receive what she offers.
Why resist such bliss? You’re already lovers for life.
So let the seduction begin.
