SUNDAY, February 23 Choice
"From the palette of the Ageless Artist came inimitable splendors. Before there was a person to see it, his creation was pregnant with wonder. Flowers didn't just grow; they blossomed. Chicks weren't just born, they hatched. Salmon didn't just swim, they leaped.....He must have loved it. Creators relish creating. ....He was mighty. He was creative. And he was LOVE. Even greater than his might and deeper than his creativity was one all-consuming characteristic: LOVE. " 'You will love me, nature,' God said. 'I made you that way. You will obey me, universe. For you were designed to do so. You will reflect my glory, skies, for that is how you were created. But this one will be like me. This one will be able to choose.' " (Lucado, p. 75-79)
"To remove the choice, is to remove the love." (Lucado, p. 82)When we abuse Creation, when we mistreat one another, we reject God's love. Everything is interconnected in that love, in and through God. There is no middle ground. Have I chosen acceptance or rejection? Do my daily actions reflect my response?
"The One who had chosen to love had created one who could love in return." (p.85)
SATURDAY, February 22 The Ultimate Gift
James 1:17 MSG
Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.
Think of the joy you feel when you give the perfect gift...the time spent researching, shopping, perhaps time spent creating it yourself. And then the moment when the gift is given, and the receiver's eyes pop with joy and excitement! Even now, nearly 10 years later, I can remember my anticipation and joy when I gave Rick his snowshoes. It was the BEST gift ever!I think God was filled with the same joy as he created our world. And God continues to smile as he tweaks this mountain peak or brings out a field of alpine wildflowers each season. We don't NEED such beauty in order to exist, but God loves to make our eyes pop, our hearts swell in wonder. Perhaps God realizes we crave such a display of God-glory to remind us of His presence. Whatever the purpose, the gift is given, and re-given every day like 'a river of light cascading down'.
Have I written God a thank you note lately for the Creation Gift? How might I express my gratitude?
(I found a couple more previously drawn Scribbles so appropriate for yesterday's scripture that I just have to include them too! I LOVE this chapter in Max Lucado's book!!!!)
FRIDAY, February 21 Missionary Skies
Psalm 19:1-4 GNT
How clearly the sky reveals God's glory!How plainly it shows what he has done!
2 Each day announces it to the following day;
each night repeats it to the next.
3 No speech or words are used,
no sound is heard;
4 yet their message goes out to all the world
and is heard to the ends of the earth.
Max Lucado writes, "Creation is God's first missionary." I have never thought of nature's glories as missionaries to the world! I love the analogy! After all, except for the love of parent, the natural world is often the first introduction people have to the majesty of our God! It makes sense! I can't improve on Lucado's words here....
"Every star is an announcement. Each leaf a reminder. The glaciers are megaphones, the seasons are chapters, the clouds are banners. Nature is a song of many parts but one theme and one verse: God is...." (p. 68)For some, failing to find the community of God within the structure of church or spiritual practice, the natural world of creation remains their primary connection to God. If they respond to such testimony, it can be enough. For some, the word of the Good News has never come. Can they not know God through creation? The full Gospel provides so much more in terms of relationships, forgiveness, grace, and salvation, but if Creation is all one has, God can and does speak!
This concept puts Creation on a powerful platform: Not just what God did first before he 'moved on to salvation stuff', but creation is what God continues to do each and every day! Unfortunately, we sometime fail to listen to the silent words God is sending out to all the world: Look! I am here. Listen!
THURSDAY, February 20 Creator God
Genesis 1:1 GNT
In the beginning God created the universe....
I went through at least 12 translations of Genesis 1:1. The words differ in several manners, but always the verb created. God didn't make, construct, photocopy, or mass produce the world. God created.
The process of creating is very different from mass production. Perhaps it is why we haven't yet found another 'earth' just like our world in the universe! We are a one-of-a-kind-creation, not another product off God's universal assembly line!
There is a joyful, expectant adventure in creating!
- God created as an artist to paint the world with colored beauty - sunsets, wildflowers, a myriad of verdant greens, blues, and golds.....
- God created as a sculptor to chisel red-rock canyons, mountain peaks, dark caverns, the convoluted bark of trees....
- God created as a scientist to interweave all life into an co-dependent community, filled with organisms of intricate adaptability and genius.....
- God created with humor, wonder, and variety!
- God wrapped his very self into his world when he created man, when he walked on earth as man.
We are no different as creators. Whether it is a painting, a poem, a musical composition, a sculpture, or a beautiful building, when the process starts, we pour ourselves into it. All else of life is put on hold while the creation comes forth. And when we are done, we are usually well pleased. I think that God still enjoys creating, - often along with us, or perhaps sometimes, through us.
Of all we don't know about the creation, there is one thing we do know - God did it with a SMILE! (Lucado, p.64)
WEDNESDAY, February 19 Behind the Beauty
Genesis 1:1 GNT
In the beginning God created the universe....
What grabs my eye and makes me look?
What fills my gaze with wonder?
What holds me spellbound with pounding chest
and reverent eye?
What stops me in my tracks, overwhelmed with the glory?Behind the beauty, I see my God.
When I see colors splashed across the skies in morning or evening,
The clouds tinted in ever-changing golden light;
When I witness intricate patterns amid fields of wildflowers,
Orange glowing trunks of towering Ponderosa forests;
When I behold ridges of mountain peaks, chiseled with snow and stone,
Or rivers, foamy and fierce, pushing through red-rock canyons;
Behind all the beauty, I see my God.
Standing on top of a mountain, the air clear and cold and thin,
The moon within touch of my hand;
I'm wrapped in the glory of stars dancing across the sky,
Nebulas and galaxies, light years before my time.
Our star, the sun, sets aglow the ocean of clouds below
And I feel small, insignificant in the immensity of it all.
But behind all the beauty, I see my God.
Creator God, what makes me look?
Creator God, what makes me wonder?
Creator God, what makes me praise?
Behind the beauty,
Behind the wonder,
Behind the glory,
Your presence radiates -
Your love reaches out
And envelops me with holy.
Behind the beauty, I find my God.
As an addendum, I wanted to include one of Max Lucado's poems.....
He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue.
And if you love to see geese gather, chances are you'll see that too.
Did he have to make a squirrel's tail furry?
Was he obliged to make birds sing?
Or the funny way that chickens scurry
Or the majesty of thunder when it rings?
Why give a flower fragrance? What give food its taste?
Could it be he loves to see
That look upon your face?
From HE CHOSE THE NAILS
No comments:
Post a Comment