Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
We are now in quite a busy place.
We're not far from the outskirts of Glasgow which is one of the major cities in Scotland and the campsite,
It's a lovely campsite and it's nestled between motorways.
It's an absolute different place from where we've been recently where there were just wide open expanse of hillsides in front of us now it feels very much more crowded with people so it feels as though I am really clinging on to my little moments of nature and admiring the trees and standing here by the hedgerows and just looking out for any birds that I might see around me.
And today's reflection is a question really that I don't have an answer to and it's to do with money.
It's to do with this sense that so much in our lives is a transaction where we exchange money for something.
And I'm actually curious about the magic that lies in those transactions that don't involve money.
I've been reflecting on it all today and as I was walking earlier on my walk,
Before we moved campsites,
There was a walk I went on and in the hedgerows there were wild raspberry bushes and I was able to pick a handful of wild raspberries for our breakfast.
You And as I was walking back with these wild raspberries,
I saw a little juvenile robin,
So young it didn't have a red breast yet.
And it just occurred to me to throw one of these little raspberries as a gift to the robin.
And I was delighted that it didn't frighten it.
Instead it came,
Picked up the raspberry and flew off with it and pecked at it a little bit further along the path.
And I just felt this wonderful sense of joy that I'd been able to supply this robin with a little bit of breakfast.
For the start of its day.
And then my husband and I,
We had a cup of coffee and we just bumped into some Americans and we were talking about the traveling that they'd done in Scotland.
And they told us about this magical moment.
They'd been near this ancient castle ruin.
And as they were exploring,
There was a bowling green that was being prepared.
And the people who were preparing the bowling green,
The club that owned this bowling green,
Just spontaneously asked them to come and have a game of bowls.
And so the Americans were absolutely delighted with this experience.
And they said,
We couldn't believe it.
We had this ancient castle in the background.
We were playing bowls,
Which we'd never played before.
And they said,
We said to the people here in the club,
You should sell this.
People would come and pay good money to do this.
And as they said that to me,
I couldn't help blurt out,
It was almost like it wasn't me speaking,
Just blurt it out,
But know,
I said,
If you paid for it,
That would take away the magic.
And that's what I'm really seeing today.
There is a real practicality and usefulness of money as a means to make exchange and to buy goods.
I really get that.
But the thing that I'm really curious about is maybe what magic we miss because we are so willing to make a monetary transaction with something.
Those small little spontaneous moments where someone is generous and offers us something.
The moments in nature when I gather wild raspberries or I pick the vegetables from my vegetable plot.
That sense of a gift of generosity of nature,
Of me receiving,
But it's not a monetary transaction.
I am curious about what you make of that in your world,
That difference between between exchanging money for something and then those moments where there is no money,
There's just an exchange of generosity or compassion or gratitude or goodwill.
And the magic that those transactions hold.
So today is that,
And I'm curious what you make of it.
The difference between a transaction that is made through money,
Nothing wrong with that,
It's how our world works,
But the difference between transactions that are transactions of love,
Generosity,
And compassion.
The difference it is to be on the receiving end or to be the giver of those kinds of transactions.
I'd love to know your reflections on this and of course don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
