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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
Lam. 3:22-23a
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
Lam. 3:22-23a
During my single, “yuppie” days, I lived with two roommates who saw the beauty in everything. And amongst all our angst about relationships and finances, we would sit at the kitchen table and ponder our problems. Inevitably, one of us would muse about how we needed something pretty in our lives, like flowers, for instance. And, on many occasions, someone would show up at our door for a visit, bringing a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers. But no matter who carried them up to us, the message received in our hearts was always the same, “These are from God.”
We would smile, and look at each other, acknowledging silently that no one knew what we were wishing for. God had given us those, just because He loved us.
And that is when we learned that God’s love is not “just enough”, it’s extravagant. Of course, most importantly, He offers us salvation. But on another level, He offers us wonder in His creation. Just because He loves us. And just because He wants to see our hearts light up with joy.
Fast forward to today. Since the three of us live many miles apart and have very different lives, we may have diverse agendas and priorities now. But some things remain the same. To this day, we still have a love for the beauty God has created in this world. Pretty things found only in nature.
My ex-roommates’ posts on social media are almost always pictures of gorgeous flowers or sunsets or sunrises. Sometimes God’s amazing scriptures are there. And sometimes, the pictures speak for themselves.
God could have given us a black and white world. Or even just organic greens and browns. But, instead, He fashioned flowers in every shade on the color spectrum, trees with bright-colored fruit, and the most amazing array of colored feathers to adorn cute, fluffy birds.
He could have created no seasons, at which point nature would lose some of its fascination and wonder. Everything could stay exactly the same, every day, until we just took it for granted and didn’t bother to look anymore. Instead, He catches our attention by designing such things as plants with bright flowers that appear in the morning and fall off at night; yet with with new flowers covering the plant the next morning. What a perfect way to illustrate the truths of God’s promise that His mercies begin again each day.
Lamentations 3:22-23 New Living Translation (NLT)
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes things are downright ugly. And we should never stop caring or stop praying. But God has given us some relief in the midst of challenges that we all face until He returns. He brings calm and peace and healing. To remind us of His loving touch, He has stamped his artistry on nature. Each color, each species, every vibrant difference, and every understated nuance was designed by Him.
As Romans 16:14 states, “All things were created by Him and for Him.” Did they have to be that pretty? No, God did that just because He loves us.
Prayer:
Lord, sometimes we live in such a fast-paced world. We think it is our duty to strive to thrive in every aspect of our lives. Yet, You commanded us to rest and cast our cares on You. We should not carry burdens that You want to lift from us.
Thank you that You love us so much that You bless us with pretty things. You did not give us nature so that we could worship creation. But, rather, You gave us nature as a beautiful gift. Proof of your majesty and artistry. And, we gladly give all our worship to You as the Creator. Thank you for reminding us that You create masterpieces for us. And help us to remember that, even though it is hard for our limited minds to grasp, this is only the fringe of all You have created for us.
Job 26:14 New International Version (NIV)
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
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