Lynne Baab

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 rate rise or fall based on the particular object a participant was viewing.”

This study fits into a new area of study, neuroaesthetics, an interdisciplinary field that focuses on what goes on in our brain, nervous system, and entire bodies when we encounter beauty. A lot of the focus of neuroaesthetics is our physiological response to the arts, including visual arts, music, and poetry. One aspect of the field is trying to figure out what we consider to be beautiful and why.

I wonder if what we consider to be beautiful evokes a primordial memory of our beginnings. Genesis 1-3 portrays a magnificent, peaceful world where God could rest on the seventh day because this new world is so abundantly provisioned (Genesis 2:2). After the humans are created in a lush garden, they can hear “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze” (Genesis 3:8), another sign of the beauty and abundance we were created for. Built into human physiology is an awareness of and pull toward the wonder and awe of God’s creation. I find it completely understandable that when we take in beauty in any form, our entire bodies are affected at the physiological level.

When I did the interviews for my book, Sabbath Keeping, I was totally surprised at how many people said their favorite Sabbath activity is to get out in nature. The beauty of nature is multisensory, calming, uplifting, and inspiring. On a Sabbath day at the beach, walking in a park, or enjoying a garden, we can sense “the Lord God walking” with us. I have talked with many people about their spiritual practices and where they feel God’s presence. A large number described the way nature helps them pray about the things on their minds, hear God speak to them, and receive peace from God. This must have an effect on us in every part of our being, our nerves, muscles, brains, digestive system, and heart, as well as our emotions, souls, and spirits.

Alert readers of this blog will know that I have been writing about the calendar and church year since last July. I’ve been happy about the number of times I could write about God’s creation.  I wrote about the Season of Creation back in September, Equinox Earth Day in March, and Arbor Day and Earth Day in April. I recently learned that the United Nations declared June 5 to be World Environment Day. This year’s focus for the day is “Beat Plastic Pollution.” For this post, I thought I would dive into research on plastics, a topic relevant to all of us, but instead, I stumbled on a fascinating article neuroaesthetics and, only a few days later, saw an article about that research in the Kyoto gardens. I wanted you to know that the beauty of nature affects us on a physiological level. Our whole being — heart, soul, mind, strength, body, and spirit — was created by God to respond to God’s beauty with all that we are and have.

When I was a young adult, I was passionate about caring for creation, and I often said this: “Creation is beautiful, and God made it. When someone we love makes something beautiful and gives it to us, we take care of it.” Later, of course, I learned that the creation nurtures human life in so many ways, and environmental degradation disproportionately affects the poor, so we have many additional reasons to care for what God made and entrusted to us. After reading about research on neuroaesthetics, I now have a new reason why resting in the beauty of creation nurtures human life.

Your beauty is beyond our comprehension, Creator God. Some days we see a new aspect of your creativity, majesty, and loveliness. Thank you. We long to experience that joy every day as we live on this earth you made and as we see the the creativity of humans that mirrors your creativity. Help us rest in the peace that your creation and human creativity bring us. Enable us to faithfully steward this intricate world you have made and entrusted to us.

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Next week: Pentecost. Illustration by Dave Baab: Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle.

Related posts:

• Support for Earth Day from hundreds and thousands of years ago
• Worshipping God the creator: Creation care
• Listening to creation as a part of environmental stewardship

Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christian spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

"Lynne's writing is beautiful. Her tone has such a note of hope and excitement about growth. It is gentle and affirming."
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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
— a reader of Sabbath Keeping