This morning my wife Eileen and I walked on our favourite beach not far from our home in Levin New Zealand, Kuku beach. Full of bird life and ever changing it always refreshes us.

It brings to mind a phrase 'echoes of Eden' that has come to me over the years. By it I mean that I wonder if in our ancient memories is a whisper of what once was. A faint recollection of a land and 'way of being' long ago experienced. And from that come yearnings and aspirations to find or recreate it again. I wonder if attempts at developing communes of harmony, or community that flow with the rhythms of creation stem from those 'echoes of Eden'. The sense that in our deepest being lies an almost imperceptible beautiful refrain just beyond reach. Attempts to recover this state have invariably been dashed because of the reality that did not exist in Eden, our selfishness.

However, in spite of this, there is still something immediate that our beings resonate with and in fact desperately need: being immersed in the still beautiful, restful, healing, uplifting spaces of natural creation. Mountain, sea, bush, river, lake, wherever our souls and spirits feel home, relax and refresh. Bathing our souls and spirits in that place, unhurried, 'unbusied', drinking in, restored. I wonder if Jesus found this when in the midst of immense ministry output Scripture records that He often went to isolated places on His own to pray. That 'echo of Eden' finding it's home in Him and us as we bathe our souls in natural creation.    And this in itself a small foretaste of how things will be in time to come when Prince of peace Jesus Christ, reigns over a renewed earth.