Nature. In all its beauty and luster, can one be so hardened and hurt as to not see a single sign of its loveliness? Not to hear the sound of singing birds or feel the warmth of the radiant sun? The smell of spring roses, the trickling brook, the soft touch of a gentle breeze, could someone really miss it all? Sadly, the answer is yes. And what is even more heartbreaking is that that individual may not even realize they are deaf, blind, or unfeeling to their surroundings, perhaps because that is just how they have always been.
God created the world, stating that it was very good and would often take walks through the Garden of Eden while conversing with Adam. The Bible says that through nature people would be able to see living proof of God’s existence because, after all, everything on earth has a creator.
So why would someone not be able to “experience” His creation? The answer is simple, yet profound. While easily not being understood by anyone except those who have been through the change and gone from blind to seeing and deaf to hearing, it is possible to see the miraculous healing in others. You know they have something you want; you may just not know what it is. You see it in their eyes or etched into that smile that warms you. Your mind dismisses it, but your soul longs for whatever it feels in that person.
When we are filled with hurt, bitterness, fear, anxiety or the like, we very often focus on that pain, so much so that we don’t see anything beautiful in life. We cannot enjoy the peace and comfort that it can bring us. Have you ever been so hungry that by the time you sit down for supper you scarf down the whole plate of food in front of you at a pace that when you are done, you really don’t even remember what it tastes like? How about when you go on vacation and you have “what it’s” going through your mind the entire time, do you or really even can you, enjoy your time off and away from home?
Satan’s goal in life is to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do anything and everything to make your life as meaningless and painful as possible. He knows what a person can do when he is free in Christ, and he abhors the very idea. Being filled with joy and peace, you can easily share God’s love and hope with others, something we all long for.
For a long time I hid hurts from family and friends from the past. Being overly sensitive to any negativity created by words, I was emotionally drained. So as I grew up I would build closets in my heart, stuffing the pain in them and slamming the door shut behind them. When one closet became too full I would simply build another one. Soon my heart was so full of closets that there was no room for anymore and I had to start stuffing hurts into cracks and under rugs, anywhere I could find to hide them. It wasn’t until I began allowing Jesus to cleanse and heal this pain that I have been able to see God’s spectacular beauty in nature.
As a result of this I gained a more intimate relationship with Christ through His creation. I could feel Him warmly embrace me through the rays of sunshine. He would sing songs of joy over me through the choir of birds. When I would feel the breeze against my skin, I could only imagine him giving me a soft kiss on the cheek. The sunsets became a gentle reminder of His love for me and the trickling brook seemed to fill me with His peace. The flat farm land that seemed to stretch for miles reminded me of the freedom I have in Christ. As one of His creations, I’m filled with more and more awe as I run these country roads in sweet communion with Him. Oh how I have come to love my Savior through the elegant and magnificent work of His hands, namely the nature we all have available to us. I have so much more to learn and room to grow in our relationship, but the more he shows me the deeper my longing for Him gets. May we all seek after what our soul truly longs for and find it in Christ!
