I can’t get enough of nature: silver-gold sunrises from green mountain tops, irrepressible seas with moon-powered tides, shady oak trees and striped dragonflies. Shall I go on? Not just yet. We’d be here awhile.
God loves nature. It is the mirror of paradise. He made it and hardwired us to enjoy its bounty and have dominion over it. To do so honors Him. But notice, the prevailing and soul-stealing push these days is to be one with nature, as if that is some kind of virtue, or even possible. I am decidedly not one with nature. Nature makes no choices. I do. God is not one with nature either. He created nature, of course, but not so that my soul would disappear into it. His plan from the very beginning was not for us to be one with nature, but rather to be one in nature, together with Him–as in, celebrate it, care for it, appreciate it, and thank Him for it. Those are virtues.
And now, I shall go on. So I meander to the pond–my Labrador retriever in tow–to watch the ceremony of the swallows, while drifting casts of jasmine and honeysuckle spike each breeze, and resident croaks and tweets freewheel in my ears. I observe as the melting sun, which baked this day in pleasant portions, wiggles its last, then flattens to concede its thirst to the night; and seven stars and two planets–which remind me of the loaves and fish of Jesus–at once take the sun’s place; and the spare frame of a bat beats close by. Deep into the peaceful night, this nature surrounds me and continues to whirl.
I thank God for it and turn toward home.
I hope this encourages you to appreciate nature today.
-Kevin Murray
© 04/16/2015 All rights reserved