Seeing Creation

In a few hours I will begin a journey that will take me out west to the Chihuahuan desert.  This desert region is found mostly in Mexico but does extend into southern New Mexico and Texas.  The only section of this desert that I’ve visited before was at White Sands National Monument.  I am looking forward to getting to explore other portions of it as I photograph Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Big Bend National Park.

While doing some preparatory reading for this adventure I picked up John A. Murray’s book, Cactus Country.  Here I found these words: “Like any desert, the Chihuahuan has much to teach us about nature and life, especially the good life.  It is a place to get outside of time for awhile, to listen to the song of oriole and the breeze in cottonwood leaves, to watch the sun rise and the sun set, to look up at the distant stars in renewed wonder.”

I agree with Murray that the desert, along with other ecosystems, has much to teach us about nature and life, “especially the good life.”  I don’t know for sure what Murray meant by “good life” but for me it is the life God meant for us when He created the world.  I believe that the Creator put the world together in such a way that we can, if we pay attention, learn much about life and how it is meant to be lived.

The past couple of weeks I’ve been reading from the Book of Proverbs before going to bed at night.  Numerous times in this wonderful collection of wisdom the writer discerns lessons from the natural world.  In Proverbs 30 alone the biblical writer makes references to the earth’s winds and waters, its land and fire.  Further references are made in this chapter to ravens and vultures, eagles, snakes, badgers, locusts, lizards, lions, roosters, and goats.  Even the lowly ant is mentioned as an example of something small, but wise, since ants “store up their food in the summer.” (v. 25)

I encourage you to learn about nature and life, especially the good life, from your surroundings.  People have been doing so since the beginning of time.  I know school will soon be getting out for a lot of folks but maybe it’s time for some of us to just begin.  May we all be open to learning what we can about the “good life” through the Scriptures and God’s “other book.”

–Chuck

(I took the two images above at White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico.)

While working on my sermon for Earth Day I learned about a man named Stuart Pimm.  He is a Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University and has won the Heineken Prize.  In addition to being a professor, Pimm is a champion of endangered species.  He has been very involved in acquiring land in Brazil to help save a species of primates called the golden lion tamarin.  Pimm was interviewed by the New York Times concerning his work and at the end of the interview was asked, for some reason, “Are you religious?”  This was his response: “I’m actually a believing Christian and Christians have an obligation to care for the planet because it was made by God and does not actually belong to us.  So we cannot simply fail to care for oceans, or forests, or creatures.  That would be to fail to fulfill our obligations to God.”

I am very thankful that there are people, like Stuart Pimm, who realize that the care of the earth and its creatures are a divine obligation.  Most Christians take seriously what they consider to be their divine obligations, whether that be praying, reading the Bible, going to church, tithing, witnessing or serving others.  Unfortunately, not enough Christians realize that Creation Care is still yet another divine obligation.  When we fail to care for Creation we let God down just as much as when we fail to do all those other things.

I don’t talk a whole lot about sin in this blog but I do believe that failure to be good stewards of God’s Creation is, indeed, a sin.   In this regard, it is no different from our failure to fulfill any or all of our other obligations to God. Still, it may have further ramifications than some of our other failures because the health of the planet affects so many others.  In fact, it affects all others.

I often tell people that the worst sin a Christian can commit is failure to obey the “greatest commandment” which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)  When we fail to care for God’s Creation there is a sense in which we fail to love God, our neighbor and ourselves.  Did not Jesus say we have a divine obligation to love all three?  Let’s make sure we do!

–Chuck

(I took the top image last week at Lilley Cornett Woods in southeast Kentucky.  I took the ocean scene in Hawaii and the whitetail fawn near Hazard, Kentucky.)

Today is Earth Day.   We also observed Earth Stewardship Sunday at my church this morning.  The hymns, Scripture readings, choral anthem and sermon all focused on God’s gift of Creation and our calling to be good stewards of it.  The service was a meaningful one to me.  One part I especially liked was the opening prayer offered by one of our deacons.  During the prayer she thanked God for birds and acknowledged that God could have made only one type of bird but thanked him for making many.  She went on to name several different species she was thankful for.

Following my sermon we sang a hymn that I doubt many people know.  It’s called “For Beauty of Meadows.”  It was written in 1969 by Walter H. Farquharson.  Here are the words to the first verse:  “For beauty of meadows, for grandeur of trees, for flowers of woodlands, for creatures of seas, for all you created and gave us to share, we praise you, Creator, extolling your care.”  I like these words a lot for the writer, like the prayer noted above, offers God specific things in Creation he is thankful for.

Often around the season of Thanksgiving you will hear the hymn “Count Your Blessings” sung in churches.  It is a reminder of our need to count our many blessings and how it helps to “name them one by one.”  One way we might all observe Earth Day today is to not just offer God thanks for the earth that sustains us and manifests His glory but give Him a specific list of the things we are particularly thankful for.  If you did that, what would be on your list?

Here are just a few of the things that would be one mine: the sun and moon; wildflowers, especially ladyslippers, Virginia bluebells and lupine; trees (the older the better); birds, particularly cardinals and bluebirds; mountains; rivers; grizzly bears;  elk, glaciers and geysers; the northern lights; clean air; pikas; sea otters; whitetail deer; the wind; rain and snow; deserts; wolves; lichen; mushrooms, cacti; oceans; tide pools; butterflies; the stars; and slot canyons.  I could go on and on.  The longer I live the more I realize how much there is to be thankful for.

Needless to say, as important as being thankful for the many aspects of Creation is, it is just as important that we remember today our calling to be good and wise stewards of all that God has made.  The last two verses of the hymn we sang this morning speak to this.  They read: “As stewards of beauty received from your hand, as creatures who hear your most urgent command, we turn from our wasteful destruction of life, confessing our failures, confessing our strife.   Teach us once again to be gardeners in peace; all nature around us is ours but on lease; your name we would hallow in all that we do, fulfilling our calling, creating with you.”

On this Earth Day I challenge you to offer God a prayer of gratitude for the specific things you are thankful for and also that you pledge yourself anew to being a good steward of the earth and its resources.  Happy Earth Day to one and all!

–Chuck

(I took the top picture at Acadia National Park in Maine; the second one in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, and the bottom two in Kentucky.)

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

I gave myself an Earth Day present this morning.  I know it was a few days early but I’ve always enjoyed early presents.  I, along with a couple of friends, visited Lilley Cornett Woods in southeast Kentucky.  This forest is one of the few existing old growth forests in the state.  It has been designated as a Registered National Natural Landmark by the U. S. Department of Interior.  Lilley Cornett Woods has been described as “a unique ‘island’ of protected forest in a ‘sea’ of other kinds of land use.”  Since one may visit it only with a guide it is not a popular tourist attraction but it is definitely a place worth visiting.

The old growth forests of the east seem puny compared to their cousins on the west coast but they still contain some very large and old trees.  I was able to see a number of giant hemlock, beech and white oak trees on my walk today.  Even though it was raining it seemed like the perfect day to be in the woods.  Things were very quiet and peaceful.  The songs of various birds and the rain dropping to the forest floor were the only sounds heard.  The shades of green surrounding us were too many to count.  There was not a huge variety of wildflowers visible on this particular day but there were still many beautiful specimens to behold.  It was not difficult at all to sense the presence of God in this special place.

A couple of nights ago I watched a few segments of Ken Burns’ National Parks documentary.  I was reminded how blessed we are as a nation to have such wonderful treasures and how important they are to us.  At one point in the film my favorite John Muir quotation was cited, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”  Our national parks certainly offer us such beauty, but so do lesser known places like Lilley Cornett Woods.  I am very grateful that over the years people have been wise enough to realize that some areas have to be set apart and protected from development.  We need such pockets of Eden to turn to and enjoy for Muir was right, they bring healing and “give strength to body and soul alike.”  I know that for a fact; I experienced it today.

–Chuck

(All the images shown here were taken this morning at Lilley Cornett Woods.)

Every year at Easter the church I am currently serving includes “the flowering of the cross” as part of their morning service.  For those of you who have never seen this done, here’s how it works.  A rough wooden cross covered with chicken wire is brought into the sanctuary.  At a certain point in the service, while our accompanists play, everyone comes forward and places fresh flowers on the cross.  In a short period of time something quite ugly is transformed into an object of great beauty.  This mirrors in a wonderful way what God did with the horrible cross on that first Easter Sunday; he made something beautiful out of it.

This year I used the flowering of the cross to teach the children in the church about God’s amazing ability to take bad situations and turn them around into something good.  I happen to believe that is God’s special knack.  I have seen it happen time and time again in my own life, as well as in the lives of others.  I guess that’s why Romans 8:28 is one of my favorites Bible verses: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  It is God’s knack for bringing good out of bad situations that fills my life with hope and enables me to move forward when things are not going well.

The same transforming power that we see at the empty tomb and in our own lives may also be witnessed in Creation.  It appears obvious to me that even in nature God is at work bringing about good in bad situations.  Sometimes horrible things happen to God’s Creation.  At times nature, not unlike humans, inflicts harm upon itself.  Tornadoes, floods, avalanches, earthquakes, lightning and hurricanes can cause vast damage to the natural world (not to mention the human world).  At other times humans are the ones inflicting the harm.  We have devised all kinds of ways of destroying mountains, forests, rivers and streams, and the air itself.  Still, somehow, someway, the earth has survived and continues to sustain us.

I believe this is true because God, in His role as Creator, continues to bring good out of bad situations.  When it comes to the natural world He has a way of bringing good out of forest fires.  He has a way of bringing good out of floods.  He has a way of bringing good out of everything.   This good may not be obvious to all, nor may it be seen right away, but God’s special knack for bringing about good in bad situations is just as obvious in nature as it is in other parts of our life.

Having said that I hasten to add that God’s ability to do this does not give us a free pass to treat the earth any way we please.  It doesn’t work that way.  One of our primary callings as His children is to be caretakers of the earth.   In fact, we are all called to assist Him in bringing about good from bad situations.  Next Sunday is Earth Day.  Now would be the perfect time to look for opportunities where you can assist God in bringing about good in a bad situation.  There are lots of possibilities; just look around you.   Plan this week to join God in bringing about good in a bad situation.  He’ll be glad you did and so will the rest of us!

–Chuck

(The top two pictures show before and after “the flowering of the cross” last Sunday.  The spring foliage image displays how nature has revived an area in Kentucky once mined.  The bottom image shows how coastal storms have shaped and formed Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park.)

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?”  Psalm 8:3

While I was out in California a couple of weeks ago Rob gave me a book by Simon Barnes called How to be Wild.  I’ve been reading it the past couple of days and have already benefited from it.  Yesterday I came across a passage where Barnes claims there are two ways of enjoying nature.  He writes: “One is to go out and look for it: nature as a special treat, nature as something to be found in special places.  The other is to take note of what is all around: nature as an aspect of life.”  In the first approach nature is “an occasional pilgrimage.”  In the second approach nature is “part of our daily devotions.”

As I’ve reflected on Barnes’ words I’ve realized that I have probably put too much emphasis on the first approach and not enough on the second.  As you know from my writings, I enjoy traveling to and photographing national parks and other scenic locations.  Weeks, even months, before I take a trip I am excited about what I’ll see once I get there.  I’m very intentional about these trips.  I study about the flora and fauna I’ll see once I arrive; I try hard to learn where the most beautiful locations are.  All of this is well and good.  It helps me enjoy my trips more and also get better images.  Still, I must admit this enjoyment of nature falls under the category of “occasional pilgrimages.”

Unfortunately, I am not quite so intentional when it comes to the other approach to enjoying nature.  I, like so many others, often rush through my day and fail to take notice of God’s Creation that is all around me.  Because of this I miss out on a lot.  It is a shame that I give nature so much attention four weeks out of the year (my vacation allotment) and so little attention the other forty-eight weeks.

Perhaps it would help me, to use Barnes’ words, to think of enjoying nature as part of my “daily devotions.”  Every day I read the Bible and other devotional material.  Every day I pray.  I’ve done this for years.  I’m very intentional about it.  I think what I need to do now is start including the enjoyment of nature as part of my daily routine as well.  I need to make sure every single day that I take notice, if only momentarily, of the wonders of God’s Creation around me.  As I just noted, I read the Bible daily.  Shouldn’t I also be reading God’s “other book” daily as well?  I believe I should and realize that in order to do so I will have to be disciplined.  I will have to keep reminding myself how important it is to pay attention.  I cannot help but think there will be great benefit from doing so.

Is the enjoyment of nature a part of your daily devotions?  If not, shouldn’t it be?

–Chuck

(I took the top picture in the Alabama Hills of California.  The lady bug, likewise, was taken in California in the Santa Monica National Recreation Area.  I took the floral image here at my home this past Sunday.)