When Nature Speaks

It’s been a hectic week; one of those weeks where every hour is accounted for and filled.  This morning I was doing a needed errand that had been on my list of things to do.  Back in the car I glanced at my list for the next thing to be done — an appointment in 30 minutes.  Quickly calculating time to get to my  destination, I realized I had twenty minutes I could spare and on impulse I headed for the seafront.  Five minutes and I was there.

I parked the car, rolled down the windows and gazed out across a light green sea.  The tide was in, so every wave could be heard softly breaking on the shore.  White caps danced on the waves all the way to the horizon and seagulls did swooping exercises in the  breeze.  I was transfixed: not a muscle moved, eyes focused across the water, and my ears enjoyed a symphony of waves and seagulls and wind.   The smell of sea and wind was fresh.  Drawing in a lung full of air I let it out slowly, feeling tensions of a fraught week easing away.  Twenty minutes later, I was ready to continue with my list of things to do this day.  Instead of feeling tense, I felt relaxed and invigorated, too.  I was ready to face the rest of my day.

There is something about taking time to “smell the roses” as the saying goes.  God created a lovely world of nature.  He loves what He created and loves it, too, when we take the time to enjoy what He has done.  Our worship of Creator God pleases Him so much, and blesses us immensely.

When we “come apart and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31) taking time to notice and enjoy what God has created around us, our inner spirits are renewed.  When we rest in the mountains,  perhaps we think of the verses in Psalm 121:1-2, I look up to the mountains — does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”   When we walk alongside a river, perhaps we think of the verses in Psalm 1:2-3, But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.”   When we gaze upon a wooded area, perhaps we think of Isaiah 55:12, “You will live in joy and peace.  The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!”

There are reminders of the love and majesty of our Father God all around us.  Meditating on His majesty is always a balm to soothe our weary selves.  Psalm 8 sums it up beautifully:  “When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers — the moon and the stars You set in place — what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings, that You should care for them?  Yet You made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them charge of everything You made, putting all things under their authority, the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.  Oh Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!”