At the present time when many people feel the limitations of physical movement around our world, there is also presented an opportunity to look into our heritage of nature and spirituality.
Here I would like to share some thoughts from the Celtic World, reflections from Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, and the Canticle of the Creature by St Francis of Assisi.
For Celts Mother Earth provides us with food and drink. Trees grow in Her soil, providing shelter, building  materials , firewood, natural remedies for illness, and also they live much longer than us thus deserving  reverence.
Animals are respected because of their essential energy and spirit. The salmon has the wisdom to come  upstream every year, to spawn and give new life. The salmon as seen on the Glamis Cross became the symbol of Christ.
The stag is the essence of the spirit of nature at peace in the wild. The eagle is able to rise above our sky and view what we can only imagine. Nature inspires Celts in art, learning and courage to travel to the seas’ ends and
search the sky’s heights.
St Francis of Assisi has over the centuries inspired countless people. Those of various religious beliefs and those of none. He wrote very little yet so much was written about him that at one time publishers stopped accepting any works about him. Here I offer a few words of his.
The prayer he offered before he said or did anything. ‘Most High, glorious God enlighten the darkness of my  heart and give me correct faith, certain hope and perfect love, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out Your holy and true command.
His Canticle of Creatures :- Most High, allpowerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing. To You alone Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name. Praise be  You, my Lord with all your creatures, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Sister Mother Earth. Praised be You, my Lord, Through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who
produces varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. “ Your daily life is your temple and religion. Whenever you enter into it take with you your all. Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute. The things you have fashioned in  necessity or for delight. For in reverie you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures. And if you would know God, be not therefore a solver of riddles. Rather look about you and you will see Him playing with your children. And look into space, you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain. You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.