Seeing Creation

When I was a teenager my father had a heart attack. Following his open heart surgery a neighbor stopped by and gave my Dad a copy of a book he thought would be helpful.  My father was not much of a reader and I don’t think he ever got around to reading the book but for some reason I still remember the name and author of that book.  It was The Year of My Rebirth by Jesse Stuart.  Jesse Stuart was a well-known Kentucky author and when I got older I read several of his books.  When I had my own heart attack and surgery recently I remembered the book that had been brought to my father and ordered a copy.  I am so glad I did.  In this book Stuart writes about his own heart attack in 1954 and the book ends up being a journal of his year of recovery.  He writes a lot about nature and faith, the two things we try to focus on in this blog.  In once section of the book Jesse Stuart offers a reflective piece of advice to his readers.  I want to share that advice with you here.

“If a man continues to think in low terms, he will soon be living just at the level of his thoughts.  Man should listen to a piece of fine music each day, he should read a good poem, story, or novel.  And it will profit him to read a portion of the Old or New Testament each day.  These were the things I had time to do now.  One should look for the beauty in the daisy petal in the pasture field instead of looking over his fine breed of cattle and calculating how much a pound they will average.  One should stop and listen to the spring winds in the April leaves.  One should love the touch of the eternal dirt from which we are all created, and the beauty of a star in the sky, and the sad refrain of winter winds in the dead leaves.  One should see beauty in the fluffy flakes of snow falling in barren timber and, in another season, the aroma of different wild flowers, the lean shape of blossom and leaf.  There is so much to elevate our thoughts in each of our private worlds that we should never stoop to thoughts of despising, hurting, cheating, taking advantage of our fellow man.”

Stuart’s rural pastoral setting may be foreign to you but there is wisdom here for all of us. What we think about, what we focus on day by day, truly does make a difference in our character and how we live our lives.  Stuart’s words remind me of the apostle Paul’s admonition to the Philippians, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable —if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (4:7-8)  Interestingly, Stuart urged us in this passage to pay attention to God’s two books—the Scriptures and Creation.  He felt that by paying more attention to these we would be far better off.  I couldn’t agree more.

In the final sentence of the passage quoted Stuart describes a scenario we are all too familiar with today, one where people despise, hurt, cheat and take advantage of one another. This is not what God intended for us. This is not how we are meant to live.  Stuart suggests that the way to move beyond this is to direct our thoughts in a more positive direction.  And he’s right; there truly is “much to elevate our thoughts in each of our private worlds” and we should be moving our thoughts in that direction.  So today I, along with the late Jesse Stuart, would urge you to put your focus where it ought to be—on God’s two books.  If more of us made an effort to do so I can’t help but believe it would truly make a difference.

–Chuck

(The pictures I’ve used here were taken in the Ozark Mountains in April a few years ago.)

For some crazy reason there is a huge disparity between the way I think and the way I see things.  If I have ninety-nine good things going on in my life or at work and only one bad thing, I tend to dwell on and stress over the one bad thing.  That is not good and I know it.  When it comes to seeing, especially with my nature photography, it tends to be right the opposite.  If I’m out photographing and 99% of what I’m around is ugly or boring and 1% is beautiful, I’ll focus on the beautiful and make the most of it.  I wish I thought more like I see.  I have a feeling God would rather have me focusing on the positives in my life than the negatives.  I’m not much good to Him or anyone else when I’m stressed out and fretting too much over the bad.

I got to thinking about all of this the past couple of days.  This past week I spent five days photographing in the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas.  I had never been to this region and was really looking forward to doing some spring photography there.  When we arrived, however, there were very few signs of spring.  Apparently the cold and prolonged winter we’ve had in the south has caused there to be a significant delay in the arrival of spring in the natural world.  I thought for sure I’d be photographing redbuds and dogwoods and wildflowers but for the biggest part of the trip these were absent.  For all practical purposes it might as well have been February.

Some may have despaired and given up after discovering the conditions were not what one expected but I have learned over the years that there is always beauty to be found somewhere.  It may not be found in what you had hoped for but it is there nonetheless.  By focusing on some of the springs and waterfalls in the area, as well as some pretty remarkable geological features, I was able to take a lot of lovely images.

Somehow I have got to figure out a way to take the same approach with my thinking.  It’s absurd for people (me or anybody else) to ignore or minimize the good and beautiful in their life because one or two things in it are not so good or beautiful.  Such negativity is harmful. It keeps a person from living a life of gratitude and also robs them of a tremendous amount of joy and peace.  I certainly realize one should not ignore his or her problems and that they do, indeed, have to be faced and dealt with.  What I must learn to do, however, is not let my focus get distorted so that the problems become larger than they actually are.

Jesus said that he came so that we “may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)  One way I can experience more of this abundant life is by focusing not just my eyes but my mind on the blessings in my life.  I have a feeling that doing so will give me a new perspective on my problems and might just enable me to do a better job of dealing with them.  What do you think?

Chuck

(I took the top image at Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the middle one at Elephant Rocks State Park, and the bottom on at Buffalo National River.)