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Praying about the flow of time: Praising God for the sun, light, and seasons

Lynne Baab • Thursday June 19 2025

Today, I want to praise God for the way the Earth is tipped. If you draw a line from the North to the South Pole and extend that line beyond the Earth, the line is not perpendicular to the path of the Earth around the sun. This website has a motion graphic that illustrates what I’m saying. Scroll down to below the video.

Because of the tipping of the Earth, we have seasons. On Friday this week, at 7:42 p.m. here on the West Coast of the United States, the Northern Hemisphere will be at its closest to the sun. The days are...

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Praying about the flow of time: World Environment Day

Lynne Baab • Tuesday May 27 2025

Researchers asked 16 students to look at two different gardens in Kyoto, Japan. One of them, Murin-an, is meticulously designed and maintained, and the second garden has similar elements but is more casual and less well cared for. The researchers recorded the students’ eye movements and heart rates and asked them about their moods. Here are the results:

“We found that the Murin-an garden was more effective in decreasing pulse rate and improving mood. Also, in the Murin-an garden the participants’ gaze ranged more broadly across the visual field and moved more rapidly. Contrary to our expectations, in neither garden did pulse...

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Praying about the flow of time: Earth Day

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 22 2025

Earth Day is this week, April 20. I want to encourage prayers in honor of Earth Day, specifically prayers for those who influence others to care for the earth. To do that, I’ll describe two people at my church.

My good friend Janette Plunkett works as Energy and Sustainability Manager at Seattle Pacific University on policies that reduce campus energy use. She recently wrote to me in an email, “In our largest building we've reduced energy usage by 37% and more than $140,000 in avoided costs. That's also the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from 275 airline trips of 3,000 miles each. This...

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Praying about the flow of time: Trees, Earth Day, and Easter

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 8 2025

I have positioned my desk so I can look over the top of my laptop screen into our backyard. Close to my window, on the left, is a golden rain tree. Right now, in early spring, its new baby leaves are a vivid red. In the back right corner of our yard is a 100-foot-tall Western red cedar, so tall that I can’t see its top through my large window. To the right of the cedar, in other people’s yards, I can see numerous other trees, including three tall Douglas firs (not as tall as our cedar), some deciduous trees, and another...

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