Seeing Creation

In a couple of days I’m flying out to California to spend some time photographing with Rob.  I look forward to being with my friend and to seeing some new places.  I really do enjoy visiting new sites.  I find more meaning, however, in returning to familiar places over and over again.

From my childhood the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been a very special place to me.  I have wonderful memories of family vacations there.  By the time I got into photography eighteen years ago I lived in a location not far from the Smokies.  As often as I could I made my way over there to photograph.  I now live further away than I did so I don’t get there quite as often but I still try to go when I can.  For some reason, the Smokies feel like home to me.

Recently I had the privilege of producing a DVD on the Smokies with the wonderful musician David Arkenstone.  It features my images and David’s original music.   As I have watched the DVD it has brought back so many memories of times I spent in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  With each viewing I have to thank God for creating such a beautiful place and also for giving me the privilege to experience it all these years.

I like to think of this new DVD as a visual testimony to God’s marvelous Creation.  There is nothing overtly “Christian” about the DVD but I still hope it will prove to be a blessing to others.  Bach wrote his music for the glory of God and I sincerely hope my photography can be used for His glory as well.

If you, or someone you know, would be interested in purchasing a copy of the DVD, they can be ordered at  David’s website: www.davidarkenstone.com. The DVD also comes with a CD of the music featured in the DVD. 

–Chuck

Today was Earth Stewardship Sunday in my denomination.  In our service this morning we sang songs related to Creation and I preached a message emphasizing the importance of being good stewards of Creation.  In my message I used a quotation from Thomas Aquinas that I’d like to share with you.  Speaking of the created order Aquinas said God “brought these things into being in order that His goodness might be communicated to creatures and be represented by them; and because His goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone the whole universe participates in the divine goodness more perfectly and represents it better than any single creature.”

I find this line of thought fascinating.  According to Aquinas, one reason we find such a variety in Creation is because it takes all that God has made to help us understand His divine goodness.  This gives value to everything that exists.  It also creates a mandate that we do everything we can to preserve all that God has made.  When we destroy Creation or cause plant and animal species to go extinct we actually eliminate ways we might have experienced God’s goodness otherwise.

Meister Eckhart once said “every creature is a word of God and a book about God.”  I believe this is true, even if I can’t tell you just what the baby possum I photographed last week (see above) says about the Creator.   Part of me wants to say it shows us that God has a sense of humor but really all I have to do is look in the mirror to be reminded of that.  I suspect if I just took the time to study possums, or spend more time with them, I could discern divine truths.  But that’s the problem, isn’t it?  It takes time and effort.  How many of us are willing to take the time to try and figure such things out?  If we could somehow remember that experiencing a greater comprehension of God’s goodness is at stake perhaps we would be more willing to put forth the effort.

God’s goodness is waiting to be seen in His Creation.  Are you looking?

–Chuck

Today is the birthday of one of my biggest heroes.  On this date in 1838 John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland.  His family would eventually emigrate to the United States and John would become world known for his writings on nature.  Today some refer to him as “the father of the environmental movement.” 

I was introduced to Muir’s writings about twenty years ago.  It would be hard to overestimate the importance of his influence on me.   He, more than anyone else, helped me see the potential for finding or experiencing God in nature.  He believed “every purely natural object is a conductor of divinity” and once wrote, “My profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature, to know God’s lurking places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas…in nature.”  I have sought to follow in his steps but fear I fail to see even half of what John did in God’s Creation.

Muir helped me to see that Creation is not something that only happened in the past.  For him, God’s Creation is ongoing: “The morning stars still sing together, and the world, though made, is still being made and becoming more beautiful every day.”  He also reminded me that God continues to care for His Creation: “How apparent  are the love and tenderness of God in the keeping of those dear, delicate plant children of His in places we are wrongly taught to call wild, desolate, deserted!  God’s love covers His world like a garment of light.”

It was also John Muir who made it clear to me that God’s love is made manifest in His Creation.  He once wrote, “All the fields of God, whether reposing in the garments of winter or of summer, sing of gentleness and love.”  Elsewhere he added, “No wilderness in the world is so desolate as to be without divine ministers.  God’s love covers all the earth as the sky covers it, and also fills it in every pore.  And this love has voices heard by all who have ears to hear.”

Muir’s childhood was steeped in the study of the Scriptures.  Biblical allusions can be found throughout his writings.  It is obvious that he saw the world through the lens of his faith.  I have found him to be a wonderful and trustworthy guide when it comes to “seeing Creation.”  I enthusiastically commend his writings to you.

Happy birthday, John!

–Chuck

(The top image was taken at Muir’s beloved Yosemite National Park.  The bottom image is Muir’s home in Martinez, California. The Muir quotes included in today’s blog were taken from John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir.  For more information on John Muir visit http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/ )

This morning I preached a message from Amos chapter 5.  In this passage God comes down hard on the people of Israel and indicates that He is about to wipe them out.  Amos reveals the reason for God’s anger.  The people had turned “justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.”  After identifying a number of ways that Israel had failed to practice justice and righteousness God declared, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

Thirty years ago I had the privilege of studying in Israel for a month.  The Middle East is an arid region; there are few flowing rivers in Israel.  Following rainstorms, however, water rushes down streambeds that are normally dry.  These streambeds are called wadis.  What God seems to be saying through Amos here is “Listen, justice and righteousness must be more than wadis that flow only on certain occasions, slow to a trickle at other times, and often dry up completely.  Justice and righteousness are to be like rolling, surging streams of water that flow continuously.”

God’s message to the ancient Israelites is intended for us today too.  Unfortunately there is still much injustice in the world and a shortage of righteousness.  In addition to racial , social and economic injustice, there is a great deal of environmental injustice.  The earth, which Psalm 24:1 tells us belongs to the Lord, is often abused.  Many of the creatures God made, likewise, suffer at our hands.  The polluting of the air and water might also be seen as examples of environmental injustice.  I cannot help but believe that these are things that upset God.  The earth is His Creation and He loves it dearly.  How it must hurt Him to see the way many of us have treated His handiwork! 

This week we will once again observe Earth Day.  I’m glad we will have many reminders in the days to come about how important it is to care for the earth but as Christians we shouldn’t need these reminders.  The Bible is full of passages that call for us to practice environmental stewardship and justice.  Loving and caring for the earth is part of what it means to be a Christian.  But some of us need reminders nonetheless and if we don’t pay heed to them I fear that we, like Israel before us, will experience devastation.  We, too, will reap what we sow.  I hope you’ll think about that the next time you see a flowing body of water.  That’s what I did when I photographed the image above at Bad Branch Falls this past Friday.

–Chuck

Earlier this spring Rob wrote a blog about dogwoods and noted the legend that associates the dogwood bloom with Jesus’ crucifixion.  Did you realize that there is another beautiful spring tree that also has a legend associated with Jesus’ Passion?  It is the redbud tree.

The redbud tree, which is putting on a magnificent display in the mountains of Kentucky right now, is also known as the Judas tree.  According to the legend, Judas Iscariot used an Old World relative of the redbud to hang himself after betraying Jesus.  The story goes that this is why the tree is now so weak-wooded; it refuses to grow branches strong enough to hang another person.  Another part of the legend says Judas’ act of betrayal caused the tree to blush with embarrassment, turning the normally white flowers to pink.

I love redbud trees and look forward to their blossoms every spring.  For that reason, I don’t like its other name—the Judas tree.  Why should something so beautiful be associated with such a dastardly character?  Of course, I’ve often wondered the same thing when I’ve visited gorgeous examples of God’s Creation and seen names like “Devil’s Tower,” “Dirty Devil River,” and “Devil’s Canyon” attributed to natural features that are actually quite divine. 

I guess the only thing I like about the Judas tree legend is that it reminds us that God can make something beautiful out of an ugly situation.  That, in fact, seems to be God’s specialty.  This glorious truth is nowhere presented more clearly than in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  God took the worst thing that could ever have happened and turned it into the best thing that could ever happen.

God’s ability to bring good from bad situations offers hope to us all.  The apostle Paul once said, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” (Romans 8:28)  Even in the bad situations of our life we have the assurance  that God will do all He can to bring good from them.  That might be something to think about the next time you see a redbud tree.

–Chuck

(The redbud images included here were taken this week here in Pikeville.)

Robert Frost has a poem called A Prayer in Spring.  Here’s the first stanza:

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

As Rob and I have both noted recently, this is a wonderful time of the year to take pleasure in the flowers.  In the mountains of my area one can now find trillium, bloodroot, trout lilies, hepatica, and scores of other wildflower species.  Of course, many domestic species are also currently blooming. 

The flowers are there but are we seeing and taking pleasure in them?  The fact that Frost feels the need to pray that we will indicates that this does not come automatically.  God gives us the flowers to enjoy but there are things that can keep us from experiencing the enjoyment intended.

If I read his poem correctly, Frost seems to be pointing to worry over the future as something that can keep us from the pleasures of God’s Creation today.  For the farmer the worry might be over an “uncertain harvest.”  For the rest of us it could be any number of things.  There is no shortage of things to cause us anxiety about the future.

Frost prays that God would “keep us here, all simply in the springing of the year.”  To me this is a reminder of how important it is to live in the present moment.  If we’re always worrying about what might happen down the road there’s a good chance we will miss the blessings of today.

In the same sermon where Jesus encouraged us to “consider the lilies” and to “look at the birds” he said, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Mt. 6:33-34)  In telling us this, his point was that we can trust God to take care of us each day.  There’s no need to be fretting about the future.  If we remain anxious, we will miss the blessings of today—blessings like the beautiful flowers all around us.

–Chuck

(The trillium and phacelia pictured here are common southern Appalachian wildflowers.)