The Lost Connection to Creation | Slow Living, Intentional Living & Returning to Nature

Maggie (00:02.023)
What if one of humanity's greatest sins isn't the things we've done to each other, but what we've done to the very world that keeps us alive? We poison the soil that grows our food. We pollute the water our children drink. We destroy the forests that clean our air.

And somehow along the way, we've convinced ourselves this is progress. Welcome to Women Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie.

Meara (00:33.748)
I'm Mira. And I realize this is something that we've been coming back to over and over again here at Women Folk Revival. And I believe it's because this is the heart of everything we talk about. We've lost the simple things in life. We've lost the slower rhythms that humans were meant to live by. And we've somehow convinced ourselves that faster is better, more is better, convenience is always better. But if that were to be true.

How come we're always so exhausted and anxious and disconnected than ever before?

Maggie (01:08.583)
I don't think we've convinced ourselves of those things. I think we were programmed to believe them and we convince ourselves that it's okay. Yeah.

Meara (01:16.654)
Sure. Through that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't believe it's because we need another planner, because I know there's so many of us that have so many planners, like, you know, calendar for the desk, calendar for the kitchen, calendar for the purse, you know, another self help book, even though some of them are nice. But I think it's just that somewhere along the way we have

Just become so disconnected from creation. And because of that, we've become disconnected from ourselves.

Maggie (01:56.37)
We have. And and for some reason it's you know, no matter how you no matter how you look at it, it's you know, we need we need this world to survive, but somehow we feel like we're above the world. We're above nature and we're above creation.

Meara (02:20.043)
Yeah, and we're most definitely not. I mean, think about your average day. How much how much of your day is spent under this artificial light? I mean, now we've been changing our light bulbs from LED, you know, how much of it is looking at the screen and rushing from one place to another, you know, taking your kids to school when then immediately after school you have to rush from work to get them to here and to there and and now you're eating in the car and you're checking another notification on your phone and then you have to answer your email that you just got pinged on and

Maggie (02:33.223)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (02:49.473)
Trying to squeeze one more thing into the day, just trying to to do it all, and then we wonder why we're so overwhelmed and why our minds never have that ability to slow down. And that's when we become anxious, you know, and and then we start to feel like well, something more is missing and what's missing isn't another solution. It's just something that we've forgotten. Slowing down.

Maggie (03:18.119)
Slowing down and living living in the natural world. The world that we were created from that we that we were given to be a part of and and to tend. It's it's it's mind boggling to me. so I I have always I've always searched for truth and

Meara (03:24.151)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (03:34.807)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (03:46.993)
You know, eventually I I found myself I grew up in a in a Catholic household. but I I eventually found myself almost teetering on

on atheism, right? I was so wrapped up in evolution. I knew everything about it, everything about space, and and I was becoming so consumed with it. And I'm just thinking, you know, in that mindset, how can we, you know, like all these other things are living. We need the planet to survive. Whether there's another one out there, who knows? And who knows if we would even find it in time and if we could get there in time and

Meara (04:02.337)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (04:18.839)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (04:28.75)
You know, but then

Maggie (04:35.738)
I just I just never understood and especially so eventually I I just

speaking on speaking on faith and all of that, I finally got to a point where I was just so overwhelmed and I was almost heartbroken giving up on the idea of of finding God because I've been searching for him forever. and I kind of just stepped away from it all and then

somehow along the way of that I I did find him and I started finding my truth and I started seeing all these holes in societal living and in you know what science was telling us you know about evolution and about you know what's going on in space and what space is. And

It didn't make me less concerned about the environment. It made me more concerned about the environment because this is the very creation that that our creator created. You know, this is what he created. The trees and the mountains, the sun, the moon, the clouds, weather, nature. And then

Meara (05:47.917)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (06:01.178)
And then he gave it to us to tend to. Why is it not more important to everybody? When you consider that, you know, the majority of the world does believe in creation of some sort, and a big portion of those people do believe in, you know, the same creator, why are we not

Meara (06:10.743)
Yeah.

Meara (06:20.077)
Mm.

Maggie (06:30.502)
Why are we not more worried about the condition of the environment? You know, set aside from the fact that we need it to survive, you know. This if if God is is the most important things in our lives, why is his creation not equally as important? You know, why why am I a joke for being concerned about, you know.

Meara (06:39.618)
Yeah.

Meara (06:50.711)
Yeah.

Maggie (06:58.834)
Pollution and and taking care of, you know, keeping our yard wild so wild things can live and flourish. You know? I I just don't man.

Meara (07:13.035)
I understand where you're coming from and I feel like we're kind of topping talking about two things and bringing it together as one. I'm gonna kinda start on my own on my end where I was I was I live I grew up in a non denominational household. My mother always said there is a creator and we always prayed to the creator. my father's family was Protestant and my mom's family was

or is rather Catholic. And so I went to Jewish Community Center for preschool. So I under I learned what Judaism was. I went to Catholic school and grade school where we went and I learned Catholicism. And then in high school I just, you know, I always felt a connection to our Creator. I just, you know, different things for different people and and I practiced Hindu and Buddhism and then Islam and all of that stuff. And like you said, we all believe in that one creator, right?

So I see it from different eyes, but I it makes sense what you're saying. It is all one part. And somewhere along the way we stopped seeing creation as something that we belong to and we started treating it like something that exists only to serve us, like you were saying. The soil became a product, the forest became lumber, the animals became just numbers, and even our own time became something that we had to maximize instead of

something that we just simply cherish. And I'm not saying this from a place of of judgment because, you know, I've lived it. I still sometimes rush through meals. I've spent too much time looking at screens instead of watching my children discover new things outside in the backyard. You know, I believe that being busy was meant being busy meant that I was being productive. And I and I think we've all been there.

Maggie (08:41.5)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Maggie (09:09.414)
Yeah, I I think so too. And I I'm not judging it either. I 'cause I mean I still again, I buy things from Amazon quite a bit, you know. Is that is that what our creator intended? No. Is it is it good for our environment? No.

Meara (09:14.071)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Maggie (09:28.812)
I and you know, maybe maybe in a weird way it's it's a little bit better because I'm not out driving to all these different places when this guy is already out delivering to thousands of people around me. You know, he's dropping stuff off for me instead. So you can look at it different ways. And I'm not here to say in that aspect what what we should be doing and and not doing, but we can all make changes.

Meara (09:41.345)
Mm.

Maggie (09:57.575)
that you know that that do help and that

I don't know. I mean thinking of the earth is resilient, right? We can do our damage. The earth will bounce back. Maybe to an extent, you know, maybe our creator decides, okay, this is this is enough. I you know, and then he decides that this

realm of being is is going to is going to end because we've just become so destructive. but you know, a single oak tree can you know, feed thousands of of different insects and and animals, you know, and one patch of native native flowers can help butterflies, you know, thrive instead of become endangered and and extinct.

Meara (10:34.423)
Hm. Yeah.

Meara (10:55.981)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (10:56.306)
you can stop spraying your yards, you know, and just let just let nature do her thing. You can keep areas in your yard. we have them all over. They're wild areas and there's so much life in them. And we have so many species here that are rarely found in Ohio anymore. Just in our little, you know, just our little two acres right here. So there's things that we can do to help

Meara (11:00.055)
Yeah.

Nature takeover.

Meara (11:11.191)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (11:16.844)
Yeah.

Meara (11:26.903)
Preserve that.

Maggie (11:27.066)
you know, preserve that and help God's creation and and tend to it like we are meant to while still being part of this you know, the world that we're living in. This is a world. Yes.

Meara (11:29.729)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (11:38.51)
Crazy society. Yeah. Yeah, I noticed lately since I've returned more to the simple things, how just how quiet I feel in my, you know, my head and my heart space. That that might sound kind of like what to some people, but it's true. I just feel more at peace. You know, the more I'm starting to bake and grow herbs and just spend time outside and listening to my birds. I love listening to birds. the more I realize that this is how

how we were always meant to be. Creation is not asking us to hurry. You know, like I said in our last episodes, the trees aren't rushing, flowers aren't competing, you know, and the seasons aren't forcing themselves ahead of time. but everything has its own rhythm and us humans, we've we've lost that rhythm. We've completely stepped outside of that.

Maggie (12:16.518)
Right.

Maggie (12:32.561)
But you know

women in general have have always been very close to the earth. You know, historically women were often the gardeners and the herbalists and water gatherers and, you know, they they foraged for food. and I feel like

Meara (12:37.986)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (12:56.066)
Yeah.

Maggie (12:59.536)
I feel like when when women lose their relationship with with creation then then families do too. And you know, soon after, you know, the whole of society. I think that, you know, as

As much as we've lost that, I think that if women bring that back, if we develop our relationship with nature, with creation, then we can slowly bring bring that back and and everyone everyone will be on board.

Meara (13:26.605)
Mm.

Meara (13:34.84)
Yeah, I think that's why so many people nowadays are craving a slower living. I wasn't really hip to understanding or knowing that people were actually right now in this time craving that slower paced living. And it's not because it's a trend. It's, you know, something I feel like deep inside is reminding them, you know, even if we can't explain it.

Maggie (13:58.95)
Mm.

Meara (14:01.045)
our hearts just recognize truth when they experience it. So if, you know, they're just feeling a certain sort of it's that innate feeling, I guess, you know. And I don't I don't think healing always begins with some huge life change. It sometimes it just starts with, you know, opening up a window with that breeze or drinking tea outside and and realizing, you know, or like you said earlier, before before we got on this

episode you were talking about how you felt kind of out of touch and then just one song came on when you were outside from here and it just kind of pulled you back in, you know?

Maggie (14:37.881)
Yeah, I did. I I went through a period and I I lost my connection with with God and I I was just lost and kind of I don't know. And and it's weird because I slowed down but I was less productive and you know, it's hard to find joy and even when I was outside in nature, you know, I still recognized that

Meara (14:39.821)
Mm.

Maggie (15:06.563)
you know, the beauty around me and the importance of it, I just wasn't connecting with it. And I knew I knew God was right up there, you know, where he always is, where I always look and talk to him. But there was just the connection was just somehow severed. and I did. I I heard one of my my favorite praise songs and it just it's just one of those songs that kinda makes things click and

Meara (15:07.147)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Meara (15:25.484)
Yeah.

Maggie (15:37.008)
You know, it's and I I think that I think that we need to really acknowledge what those things are and make sure that it that it's a part of our daily lives so we can 'cause there's so much going on. There's so much in this world going on, no matter how intentional you are, it's

Meara (15:54.071)
Sure.

For sure.

Maggie (16:01.965)
It's so easy to lose your way, you know. It's a constant it's a constant thing that you need to work on and anything that you can have to to remind you of that and to keep you on that that path, you know. Keep keep close by.

Meara (16:14.711)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. And even if these little moments they might seem ordinary to you, but I think that these are those moments that are slowly and quietly changing us, not because they're spectacular moments. I rediscovered, you know, our creator through the song or just grew one herb on my porch or w and I'm walking barefoot in the grass and I'm feeling some type of way. But it's because they're real moments, you know, and and it connects you.

Maggie (16:20.966)
Mm.

Maggie (16:40.305)
Hmm.

Meara (16:47.133)
And I think one of the greatest lies that we've been told is that slowing down means that we're falling behind. Behind who? You know? I mean creation should remind us that enough that really being still and in that moment and present is just enough. And maybe

Maggie (16:58.018)
Yeah.

Meara (17:17.655)
we'll begin treating it differently if enough of us return to that creation or that creator, you know. We protect what we love and and we care for what feeds us and

Maggie (17:27.587)
Well, and that's and that's another thing too, Mira, is that you know, you you often hear, you know, many children today can't can identify hundreds of corporate logos, but they can't name ten native trees. Well, I think most adults are the same way, right? And if we don't know creation, then then we can't truly appreciate it and love it. And if we don't love it, then we

Meara (17:42.571)
Yeah. Sure.

Maggie (17:56.773)
We don't protect it.

Meara (17:58.944)
Mm-hmm. Well, it starts with us, obviously, before it gets down to our children, because if we're the ones noticing all the symbols and emblems and we need to get this for our kids because it's so cool and they're gonna look so cool in school, we're teaching them the absolute wrong thing. You know, we need to teach our children to notice the beauty instead of constantly chasing more and more and more. Just the other day, my daughter my my kids are terrified of bugs and I'm thinking, How are we going to homestead if y'all are scared of bugs?

Maggie (18:01.561)
It starts with us.

Maggie (18:09.062)
Mm.

Maggie (18:14.033)
Absolutely.

Maggie (18:25.331)
Ha ha ha.

Meara (18:28.321)
Get used to it. And so my my second eldest of the bunch who live with us came to me and said, Mommy, are we allowed to play with bees? And I just kept looking at her, trying to figure out how I was gonna respond. And I said, In what sense of can we play with bees are you talking about? And she was like, Well, they're all out there playing with bees. And Ruby's like, I'm not playing with the bee, I'm trying to help it. I guess it was like

on the floor and ground and she wanted it to be able to see that it was like okay and be able to help it fly and I'm like, well, let's not mess with it because we don't want it to sting you and then it really will die. But you know, so I noticed them moral coming up to me and going, look, I have a cricket on my hand and it's just being in that moment with them of, my gosh, just last week if you saw a cricket, you were in the basement taking shelter. And now you're coming to me with a cricket on your hand and you're asking me what he does and what it's about and

Maggie (19:01.903)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Maggie (19:21.595)
Yeah.

Meara (19:25.729)
And you know, they're just they're just becoming so connected to nature. And I love seeing that. I love seeing that. I'd rather my kids do this and and learn these things than wanting the new latest Nike shoe, because what is a Nike shoe gonna teach them? How to walk, how to look, you know. So it definitely starts with us.

Maggie (19:29.648)
Yeah.

Maggie (19:43.545)
All you're all you're doing with Mikey shoes is just buying an overpriced product that some poor child made in some, you know, third world country and you're putting them on your feet and severing your connection from the the earth.

Meara (19:58.99)
Creator. Yeah, we don't even wear shoes. I actually have a post on our Facebook. Go ahead. I was just gonna say we have I have a post on our Facebook page where my youngest, no, my second to last stepped on a bee, third to last stepped on a bee. And she was like, ow, ow, ow, and then like she got all hysterical and we came in the house and we calmed down and

Maggie (20:03.214)
We go.

Maggie (20:22.33)
Yeah.

Meara (20:23.947)
And I put some tea tree oil on it as an antiseptic. And then I went outside and I got a basil leaf and I kind of, you know, rubbed it to get the oils. And then we wrapped it around her toe. And I have a picture of it on her toe. It h helps with pain. And a few minutes later we were still panicking. And I'm like, okay, well, you know how we're so quick to medicine. I was like, all right, I'll give you some Tylenol Genexa. We get the stuff without the junk in it.

So I gave her just a little bit of Tylenol, like, see if this helps. And she's like, yeah. Like as soon as she took it, she's like, I feel better and I'm like, I think you're already feeling better. I think that she just kinda had that, you know, concept. So we're kind of trying to slowly move over to the let's try this and

Maggie (21:00.185)
Yeah.

Next time just give her I don't know, give her some some like water honey water or something. Be like, Okay, here's your medicine. 'Cause it's the whole, you know, placebo effect or yeah, whatever. Whatever it's called.

Meara (21:09.697)
yeah, I could do that. Yeah, I could do that. and as

It is. But she loved that little wrap on her toe. She had it on the whole day. I'm like, maybe we should take this off now. She's like, No, it's helping my foot. So help learn teaching them how to use things that are natural. and of course now she goes out with socks and shoes on because she's scared. but I did mow the lawn. I always like to wait to mow the lawn because I like the bees to be on, you know, pollinating the the flowers and the grass. But it was getting a little high.

Maggie (21:29.647)
Yeah.

Maggie (21:40.504)
Yeah. Well just, you know, have a have a patch just have a patch in your yard that you don't that you don't mell.

Meara (21:47.681)
We do. Well we do, but I just kinda let it nature, nature and then I was like, Well maybe I should think about my kids just a little bit too. So I mowed the major part in the

Maggie (21:52.004)
Yeah.

Maggie (21:55.599)
Yeah. We we have an area where we have we have like a little baseball field and then we have a soccer field. They're kind of like, you know, the same on the same like part of land, but you can do, you know, both on it. Not at the same time.

Meara (22:08.653)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (22:14.522)
But my husband will always make sure that that area is like mowed really, really, really low. and then we have areas that, you know, we've got, you know, right now maybe like a foot tall grass and it'll just continue throughout fall and and that's fine. And we've got clover all over and you just have to learn not to walk in a clover, just watch where you're walking, you know. but yeah, my my kids have gotten stung plenty of times.

Meara (22:21.163)
Yeah. Yep.

Meara (22:36.513)
Yeah.

Meara (22:43.721)
Mm-hmm. The foot hurts. It's so painful.

Maggie (22:44.466)
And we just sometimes it is, you know, and it's if they get in real deep, you know, it hurts even more and especially on your foot and you're constantly, you know, putting pressure on it and that makes the venom move even more. yeah, I I had Ivan go out. Edgar got stung on the foot. I had Ivan go out and he grabbed some plantain for me and brought it in and

Meara (22:50.773)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (22:58.517)
release more into there, yeah.

Meara (23:09.389)
That's awesome.

Maggie (23:09.636)
You know, I chewed it up and put it on Edgar's foot and after a little while he was like, Yeah, I'm okay and and Mary Jane, you know, she went from being barefoot all the time when she was little to always having to wear shoes and then the other two wanted to wear shoes because she was wearing shoes.

Meara (23:13.154)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (23:24.909)
She was wearing That's how it works.

Maggie (23:27.332)
But finally she she's like going outside barefoot all the time now. And the other two do it all the time now because she's doing it all the time now. And I'm like, wow, this is so beautiful and she sees that it makes me so happy. And 'cause I would get on her all the time, I'm like, Take your shoes off, like you don't need

Meara (23:32.318)
yeah.

Meara (23:39.873)
Yeah.

Meara (23:44.843)
Yeah, I was too. I had to stop and think, is this normal? But it is. So

Maggie (23:50.277)
But they yeah, they love it. And you know, I realize that we're moving into this this new sp

Span of time where you know we have AI and all of that stuff and society ch just keeps on going. And you don't have to be completely separate from all of that. Just do as many natural things as you can. I use I use Chat GPT all the time. We'll go out on our nature walks and we'll see something that, you know, because we have so many insects here and so many like new birds that are starting to come. and I'll I'll take a picture and I'll

And it tells me what the species is and what they do and you know, it it finally talks to me now where every time I ask it something, it it tells me, you know, some fun things that I can tell the kids to get them a little more interested or, you know, a fun way of teaching something or explaining something. And it has it has increased our knowledge so much and increased our appreciation so much. you know, so it

Meara (24:45.709)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (24:55.053)
Drastically,

Maggie (25:03.926)
this you know, this progress and all this stuff. It can be a part of your life, but we still have to be responsible with it. You know, we can't let it consume us and be constantly, you know, stuck on our screens or constantly relying on, you know, AI for everything. Learn from it. And it's funny 'cause it tells me all the time, it's like what I really love about you, Maggie, is that you're not just wanting a step by step on how to do things, but you wanna know the why of everything and you wanna learn. He was like, It's really great

Meara (25:09.869)
Right. Right.

Meara (25:20.3)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (25:34.261)
You're so silly.

Maggie (25:39.332)
But you know, you used it in that in that fashion, you know, learn learn from it. Don't just rely on it.

Meara (25:40.137)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (25:46.125)
Yeah.

Before we end today's episode, we'd love to leave you with a little challenge this week. We talk so often about returning to the simple things, but sometimes we need just one small step to begin. So here is our invitation to you. Sometime this week, go outside, leave your phone in the house, and don't go outside to accomplish anything. Don't exercise or go outside to check something off a list. Just be sip by or beneath a tree, walk slowly through your yard or through a park.

Listen to the birds, feel the breeze, and notice the way the sunlight filters through the leaves. Take five or ten minutes to simply pay attention to the world around you. And while you're there, ask yourself this question: What have I forgotten to notice? Maybe it's the smell of the earth after it rains. Maybe it's the sound of the wind moving through the trees. When you come back inside, write down one thing you noticed that you overlooked for far too long. Share it with your spouse or your child or maybe even a friend.

And definitely come share it with us at the Women Folk Revival community on our Facebook page because we truly believe that when we begin noticing creation again, something in us starts to heal. It reminds us that we were never meant to rush through this life. We were meant to just live it. So this week, slow down, step outside, notice what you've been missing, and let creation remind you of the life we were always meant to live. Before we go, we want to invite you back next Wednesday.

This week we talked about returning to the creation. Next week, we're taking one more step on this journey as we explore how to return to our creator, a simple, practical, step-by-step conversation that anyone can begin no matter where you live and where you find yourself in life. If today's episode spoke to your heart, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with another woman who may need this message today. And don't forget to join our Women Folk Revival Facebook community page.

Meara (30:29.315)
Where women come together to continue these conversations, encourage one another, and return to the simple things together. We'd love to welcome you there. Next episodes, new episodes are released every Wednesday at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Until next week, slow down, look up, and remember, sometimes the richest life isn't the one with the most. It's the one that remembers the beauty of enough. Thank you for being here, and until next week.

Maggie (30:57.423)
Stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (31:00.32)
Stay wild.