Seeing Creation

Have you ever thought about how much photography is about life and not about death? We are uncomfortable with death in our culture. While there is some imagery about death in nature, it tends to be either dramatic African predators killing prey (or something like it) or a rather psychologically distant image of a dead tree trunk.

I thought a lot about this as my father died earlier this month. His doctor said something that is so basic that it is obvious, yet so against our culture that it is not often said — dying is a natural process of life and my dad was slowly doing something that we are all supposed to do at some time.

This does not mean this is an easy thing. I was sad to see my dad go, though given his serious health issues, I was also glad to see him at peace. But it also made me think that if dying is a natural process of life, then it is something God has given us as part of life. If as Christians we truly believe that death is a passage to being with God, then death is also a sacred moment, a moment to be honored.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel said this about sacred moments, “The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments.”

I really wanted to be with dad as he died. That was important to me and I was blessed to have had that opportunity. I know that our culture does not want to accept witnessing death as a blessing, but I have learned that it can be. And a sacred moment to be faced.

I spent some time in the Maine woods near where my parents lived as my dad died. At this time of year, you cannot help but see the passing of much life as winter starts to come. Of course, we know that a leafless tree in late fall is not about death because the tree will “come to life” again in the spring. But maybe that is a good metaphor for our own mortality. As we age, our bodies change dramatically, just like the tree in fall. Then the winter of death comes, only to be revived as a spring as we find our way to God after death.

Psalm 89:48 says, “What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?” I think now that this means that life and death are part of the same process. Because of this, death can teach us to recognize what is really important in the world. I know that God used my dad’s death to help me better understand this very, very important lesson. And to recognize what a sacred moment death is.

– Rob

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”  Romans 15:13

Things have gotten rather dreary here in southeast Kentucky.  The leaves are pretty much all off the trees and you’d be hard pressed to find any wildflowers.  Everything just looks sort of drab.  I know this causes some people to get down every year, and maybe I succumb to the temptation myself periodically, but nature has shown me that this too will pass.  The earth has its own cycles and the season we are going through now is just one of them.  In a matter of months things will turn green again and we’ll be seeing color everywhere.  It is this hope that will sustain us during the late autumn and winter months.

Today happens to be the first day of Advent.  Even though a lot of people are saying we’ve now entered the Christmas season, technically the Christmas season does not begin until December 25.  It is then we begin the “twelve days of Christmas.”  Everything between now and December 24 is Advent.  During Advent we remember Christ’s coming long ago and anticipate his coming again.  Each Sunday in Advent has its own theme.  The theme for the first Sunday in Advent is hope.

The same hope I find in nature for better days to come I also find in God.  If the Bible teaches me anything it is that God is a God of hope.  With God there are no hopeless causes.  With God there is always the promise of a better day to come.  Both my faith and my experience lead me to affirm this. 

In Creation I see plenty of evidence of God’s faithfulness.  As I’ve already noted, I know that following autumn and winter spring will come.  I know that no matter how dark the night may get dawn will eventually break.  I know that tides will ebb and flow.  I know that the moon will cycle through its various phases.  There is a lot of predictability built into God’s Creation and for me this all points to a Creator who can be trusted.  It is God’s faithfulness and dependability that offer me hope every single day. 

Without hope people despair.  Without hope people give up.  Hope is that important.  Today I give thanks for the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ.  In Creation, in Scripture, and in my own life experiences I’ve learned there is always reason for hope.  Always!

–Chuck

(The top image is Log Rock at Kingdom Come State Park near Cumberland, Kentucky.)

As I write these words it’s raining outside.  That is quite appropriate in light of the words of the particular Psalm I’ve been thinking about here lately.  In Psalm 65 David says “You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly.  The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain,  for so you have ordained it.  You drench the furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.” (vs. 9-10)  Clearly the Psalmist wanted to offer God praise and thanksgiving for the gift of rain.  Most of us take rain for granted and at times even complain when we have too many rainy days in a row.  Perhaps we should remember here that David lived in an arid region.  People who live in deserts cannot take rain for granted.  Neither should we.

The rain that interferes with our outdoor activities and causes things to be “messy” remains one of God’s wonderful and priceless gifts.  Without the gift of rain there wouldn’t be food on our tables.  Without the gift of rain our rivers and lakes would dry up.  Without the gift of rain there would be no life.  The Psalmist recognized this.  In the remainder of Psalm 65 he adds, “You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.  The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.” (vs. 11-13)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.  I suspect that you, like me, have much to give thanks for.  Like most everyone else I will give thanks for my family and friends, for my health and home, for food to eat and clothes to wear.  I will give thanks for my country and the freedoms we enjoy.  I will offer thanks for my salvation made possible through Jesus Christ and for my church.  Taking my cue from the Psalmist, this year I also intend to give thanks for the natural elements God has given to sustain us.  I will give thanks for the rain and water, for the air that we breathe, for the rich earth or soil, and for the sun and its light.  These basic elements are the foundation of our lives.  They are also all gifts of God.  So let us “shout for joy and sing.” And, yes, by all means, let us also give thanks!

–Chuck

P.S.  Rob and I would like to wish all of our readers a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  We are very grateful that you take the time to read SeeingCreation.com!

(Both of the images above were taken in the Tremont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.)

Today I’m still thinking about air and how it can play a role in our spiritual lives. In my last post I noted that in both Greek and Hebrew the word for wind also means spirit.  To make things even more interesting, the same words that mean wind and spirit also mean breath.  This, too, has spiritual implications.  In the Genesis 2 account of Creation it says, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (v. 7)  Apart from the giving of God’s breath (spirit, wind) there was no life.  The first man may have had a body prior to this but not life.  It is God who imparts life and that life was given in God’s breath.  

Everyone knows that we must have air to breathe in order to live.  Without air we suffocate and die.  Air is an essential element for life.  Those who affirm God as the Creator of the earth can easily see how the air we breathe and that sustains us may be viewed as a metaphor for God.  Through His breath God gives us life.  Through His breath we are sustained.  As we breathe air into our lungs we receive life from God, we take in His very Spirit.

It is certainly worth noting that the same air that gives life to and sustains humans also gives life to and sustains the rest of Creation.  The animals that inhabit this planet with us breathe the same air we do.  The plants, likewise, take in and benefit from the very same air.  This is not only a reminder of our commonality with all other living things but also of the fact that all life comes from God and is sustained by Him.

After being told that the world is still being created, and that is it Christ who is reaching his fulfillment in it, Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “When I heard and understood that saying, I looked around and saw, as though in an ecstasy, that through all nature I was immersed in God.  God is everywhere…  Every breath that passes through me, envelops me, or captivates me, emanates, without any doubt, from the heart of God; like a subtle and essential energy, it transmits the pulsations of God’s will.”

We should be thankful for every breath we take.  Each gulp of air is a gift from God and an extension of God.  Every breath is a reminder that God desires for us to enjoy life and to enjoy Him.  I cannot help but believe that this has been His intention from the beginning.  The wind we feel and the air we breathe are perpetual reminders of God’s goodness and love.  For these ongoing reminders let us all give thanks. 

Understanding the connection between God and air might also serve as a motivator for us all to work harder for clean air standards.  It is obvious from Scripture that air is meant to give life, not harm it.  We have theological as well as health reasons for working hard to curtail air pollution and its harmful effects.  It is painful to think that something that is associated with God and life has come to be so polluted.  That is certainly not what God intended.  God’s breath, God’s air, is meant to be life giving, just as it was for the first human long ago in the Garden of Eden.

–Chuck

(I photographed the sandhill crane at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico.  I captured the middle image at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado.  I took the bottom image at Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia.)

Over the past few days I’ve been reading a delightful book called Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements by Christine Valters Paintner.  As you can tell from the title, the book explores ways that the traditional four elements of nature can be used to enhance our prayer lives.  I have only read thus far the section on “wind” but I am finding this book to be filled with lots of useful information and suggestions.  I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve found helpful.

To begin with, Paintner says “The metaphor of air or wind offers us a variety of ways to understand our experience of God: as life-breath, as inspiration, as enlivener, as directional guide, as powerful force, or as the current that supports flight.”  She also says, “The element of wind invites us to ‘open our souls to Being,’ which means opening ourselves to a God who flows in directions we cannot predict.  This element invites us to a radical posture of surrender in releasing our hold on our plans and making room for God to blow us in the most life-giving direction.  As a metaphor for God wind reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways.  The invitation of wind requires of us a detachment from our own longing to control the direction of our lives and a simultaneous surrender to Spirit to allow ourselves to be carried to places of growth and newness.”

I remember from my studies of Greek and Hebrew that both languages use the same word for both “wind” and “spirit.”  I have not, however, given that much thought to how we might use the wind or air we experience on a daily basis to make us more mindful of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives each day.  We actually have a chance with each breath we take to be reminded of the Spirit that sustains guides and nourishes us.  In meditation people are encouraged to pay close attention to their breathing.  This makes perfect sense.

I found the following suggestion by Paintner to be particularly helpful.  “Begin each day by intentionally setting aside your plans and offering a prayer asking for direction from the flow of the Spirit present in the wind.  Notice during the day where this guidance wants to take you.”  This is a simple practice that could have a profound impact on our lives.  We might envision ourselves as “a feather on the breath of God,” as Hildegard of Bingen once suggested, and then seek throughout the day to allow God’s Spirit, God’s Wind, to move us wherever God thinks best.  Jesus once told a man named Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)    I encourage you to ponder anew the words of Christ and to offer a prayer that you will be as open to the movement of God in your life as a feather is to the sometimes gentle and sometimes forceful prompting of the wind. 

–Chuck

(The top two pictures are intentional blurs taken to illustrate the movement of the wind.  I chose the bottom image to symbolize how we never know where the wind or God will lead us.)

Editor’s Note: Rob’s father passed away a couple of days ago.  Please remember he and his family in your prayers.

I came across an interesting quote from Oswald Chambers this past week.  In his classic devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, he wrote: “Nature to a saint is sacramental.  If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in Nature.  In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign of the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is a real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it.”  What I found interesting about this passage is not Chamber’s recognition that nature is sacramental or that God comes to us through His Creation but that what often hinders us from experiencing this is our lack of imagination.

I have to admit that early in my life I did not consider imagination to be very important.  I felt I should focus on what is “real” or “factual.”  For this reason I even refused to read anything that was considered fiction.  I really don’t know what led me in that direction but eventually I learned that the imagination is very important, even in the spiritual realm.  In his Spiritual Exercises St. Ignatius encourages people to use their imagination in visualizations of biblical stories to grasp better their meaning.  C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite Christian writers, once said “Reason is the natural order of truth, but imagination is the organ of meaning.”  Today I cannot deny or minimize the value of imagination in many areas of life.

If you and I are going to experience God in nature then we must learn to exercise our imagination or, to follow up on what Chambers said, feed it.  If we starve our imagination we won’t recognize God’s Spirit in the wind that blows across our face.  We won’t see signs of God’s faithfulness in the changing of the seasons or even the passing of one day to the next.  Without the use of our imagination we might miss the expressions of divine love that can be found in the birds at our feeders, the flowers along the side of the road, or the gentle cascades of a stream. 

Mark Twain, who certainly had a way with words, once said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”  When it comes to seeing God in Creation that is unquestionably true so go feed your imagination; do whatever it takes to get your imagination in focus.  So much depends upon it.  It really does.

–Chuck

(I took the abstract water reflection at Jenny Wiley State Park in Kentucky.  The middle image shows a pattern formed by lichen on a granite stone in Acadia National Park.  The bottom image shows a magnolia blossom in my yard.)